[STENDHAL (1783-1842)]. Sophie DUVAUCEL (1789-1867). L.A.S. "Barone du Voix", 10 October 1834, to Stendhal 6 pages in-4 (small tear at the head without affecting the text). One of the three known letters from Sophie Duvaucel that Stendhal kept. He noted at the head: "Lue le 8 Novembre"; in the margin, Romain Colomb noted: "mariage du Docteur Koreff" and further on "le Moïse de M. de Chateaubriand". We can only give a brief outline of this long letter, so characteristic of the mind of Cuvier's daughter-in-law. "Stories! That's what you like to say. And if it does rain, am I not sheltered from the downpour under the tall trees in our garden? The noises of this world, my dear consul, only reach me as fashions reach the Shetland Isles, after having circumnavigated the globe, and I don't want to expose myself to the mockery of the most mocking of men". She recounts Dr Koreff's adventures with humour: "The novel ended, like all bad novels, in that platitude called marriage" (Sophie Duvaucel was to marry a month later); "here is the poor man bound in the right way, which is even better than a duel to the death"... Then she ironises about a "medal of encouragement" awarded to Humboldt by the Paris Statistical Society, which sent another to Lady Morgan... She mentions an article by Jules Janin about the Versailles performance of Chateaubriand's tragedy Moïse: "Janin made himself the Cornac of M. de Chateaubriand's golden calf with the best grace in the world. de Chateaubriand's golden calf. You should know, however, that the calf, the prophet and the viscount bored the Versailles parterre to no end"... She received a long letter from Mérimée: "He tells me crazy stories after talking about cathedrals to M. Persil, monuments to M. Thiers and archives to M. Guizot"... She is amused by Jean-Alexandre Buchon's moustaches, talks about the École Normale created by Cuvier, who wanted to build up a natural history collection there, and is indignant at the "infamy" of Victor Cousin who pocketed the funds intended for it... George Sand had just published a new novel, Jacques: "I haven't read it yet, so afraid was I of finding a Jacques Lafitte, or a Jacques Lefèvre, or even a Jacques Coulmann, all very worthy people to appear in the House of Representatives, who represent no one, but who, in my opinion, are hardly suitable to become heroes of a novel"... She also mentioned the publication of the thoughts of the Count of Peyronnet, a biography of Talleyrand, "a bloody satyr of your political hero"... But she does not know "why I dare talk about books to a man who does not like women to know how to read. [...] We shall spend our winter in the Jardin des Plantes, doing all our travelling by the fireside as usual. If you were to come and sit there you would be most welcome and I would find it even more pleasant to talk face to face with you than to write you long pages which can neither interest nor amuse you"... Attached are 19 L.A.S. or notes from Louis-Adolphe de Mareste (1784-1867) to his friend the cavaliere Gaetano Cobianchi, 1843-1861; the names Poerio, Persigny, Louis Bonaparte, Mme de Rubempré, Cavour, etc., are mentioned; Savoy, Piedmont, Rome and the Roman States... (plus a few bookplates).