Aus der Liste EXLIBRIS:
May I encourage members of the list to drawn the attention of their contacts to the appeal for donations that has been launched to help the French State acquire the manuscripts of Émilie Du Châtelet and Voltaire that will be sold at auction in Paris by Christie’s on 29 October?
The appeal, undertaken with the approval of the Archives de France and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, aims to assist public libraries and archives in France to preempt at the sale. All contributions received will be made over to the public bodies able to make purchases on 29 October. Payments made will not be banked until after the sale.
Substantial tax credits are available to those paying tax in France and all donors may appear, if they wish, on the published list of donors.
Donations play a double role, financial and moral. All contributions, at whatever level, support the decisions that must soon be taken by those who will determine the public funding available.
Donations can be made by French cheque, Visa or Mastercard, bank transfer (all charges at the expense of the donor, please) and by Pay Pal.
These links may be useful:
– Presentation of the appeal and of the discovery of the manuscripts : http://fonds-voltaire.org/index.php/patrimoine/cirey
– Make a donation : http://fonds-voltaire.org/edc1
– An article on the history of the manuscripts, due to appear on 12 October in the “Cahiers Voltaire” 11 : http://fonds-voltaire.org/edc1/cv11-brown.pdf
– PDF of the appeal (colour or mono) to be distributed or printed : http://fonds-voltaire.org/index.php/patrimoine/cirey/edc-doc
– Banners for your web site linking to the appeal : http://fonds-voltaire.org/index.php/patrimoine/cirey/edc-doc
– The sale catalogue should soon be available at http://christies.com
With thanks for all that you can do to pass the word.
Andrew Brown
Président
Fonds de dotation Voltaire
26 Grand’rue, F-01210 Ferney-Voltaire
In der Tat eine sensationelle Entdeckung, denn Émilie Du Châtelet war eine der wichtigsten Wissenschaftlerinnen des 18. Jahrhunderts. Das Schlossarchiv Cirey ist im Departementalarchiv in Chaumont gelandet, über die ebenfalls wieder aufgetauchte Bibliothek erfährt man aus den oben verlinkten Quellen nichts.
Katalog der Versteigerung:
http://fonds-voltaire.org/images/edc-catalogue.pdf
Es ist ein Unding, dass diese miesen Verscherbeler (sei es Eigentümer, sei es Christie’s) den Nachlass in Einzelstücken versteigern wollen. Man kann nur hoffen, dass genügend Geld zusammenkommt für einen Erwerb en bloc.
Wozu gibt es eigentlich einen Denkmalschutz?
