Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) - photo 1
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) - photo 2
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) - photo 3

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716)

Lot 352
15.12.2023 11:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 100
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1109154
Lot 352 | Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716)
Estimate value
£ 12 000 – 18 000
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716)
Autograph letter signed ('Leibniz') to Jacques Lelong ('Mon Reverend pere'), Hanover, 23 April, 1706
In French. Four pages, 194 x 153mm, bifolium. Provenance: Christie's, 29 June 1995, lot 411.

A letter showing the great range of Leibniz's learning and contacts with scholars across Europe, discussing subjects including bibliographical and philological matters and editions of the Bible. The scholars referred to, mostly from personal acquaintance or correspondence, include Varignon, Huygens (who is suffering of an illness 'à force d'avoir trop medité'), Malebranche, Mayer, Mabillon and Père Daniel, 'Je crois qu'il a raison de soutenir que les François n'ont pas été établis fixement au dela du Rhin avant Clovis. Et ceux qui ont cru comme Wendelinus que l'ancienne loy salique avoit este faite quand ils estoient deja les maistres du Brabant et des environs ont été mal informés'. Leibniz refers to various libraries including those at the University of Leipzig, only worthy of consideration for the manuscripts taken from neighbouring monasteries; to a scholar in Hebrew at Helmstadt, 'Je l'ai prie de voir à l'egard des editions de la Bible s'il pourrit adjouter quelquechose a la Biblitheca Rabbinica de Bartholotius'. He explains the variety of dialects, 'Quand on dit Nieder-deutsch on entend ordinairement le jargon des pays bas, c'est a dire Hollandais, Frision, Flamand. Die Bibel Wendisch imprimé a Wittenberg est du jargon esclavon de la Carinthie .... et pays voisins entre l'Autriche et la mer Adriatique'; and informs Lelong about the Cyrillic and Glagolitic scripts. He draws attention to an error, 'Quand sous la Rubrique: Londini. Il est dit 27.27. Britannica sive Hibernica. 1620 je juge que l'Hibernica est une erreur. C'est proprement Britannica-Wallica, cest a dire de la langue du pays de Galles, qui convient asses avec celle de la Basse Bretagne, et meme avec l'ancienne Gauloise', and he has heard that the Irish Bible was largely financed by Boyle. Lelong has made enquiries on his behalf about the Glossary of Ansileubus, Bishop of the Goths, in whom he is interested, and also 'On pretend qu'il y a un ouvrage non imprimé de Reginon de Prüm, celebre historien et Abbé autrefois du monastere du dioscese de Treves, qui contient une instruction sur la Musique de son temps'. He also asks Lelong to enquire, without naming him, about Modena, in the hope that the Ducal Library there has not been touched and enquires about other works.

Jacques Lelong (1665-1721), historian, was for more than 22 years the librarian of the Oratory in Paris, continuing meanwhile to add to his extraordinary knowledge of literature, history and theology. His best known works include the Bibliotheca Sacra (1709); Discours Historique sur les principales editions des Bibles polyglottes (1713) and his Bibliothèque Historique de la France (1719), a catalogue of works, manuscript and printed, on the history of France. The information conveyed by Leibniz in the present letter relates to the gathering of material useful for all three.

The letter is not among the fifteen to Jacques le Long listed in Bodemann, Der Briefwechsel v. Leibniz, 140-141 (1889).
Artist:Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646 - 1716)
Place of origin:Germany
Auction house category:Medicine & science
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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