Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Douglas H. Gordon Collection of French Autograph Letters, 1830-1970, Accession #10419-d, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

This collection was given to the library by Douglas H. Gordon through the Rare Books Division on December 18, 1989.

Scope and Content Information

This collection consists 15 items, of correspondence, ca. 1830-1970, from the Douglas H. Gordon Collection, transferred from the Rare Books Division. It includes five autograph signed letters, ca. 1830, in French, from Honore de Balzac (1799-1850) to Margaret Patrickson, Zulma Carraud, Théodore Dablin, Mme. de Moerder, and Prince Michelangelo Caetani; an autograph signed note, 1872, from Drouyn de Lhuys to unnamed colleagues; and two unidentified notes, one in French and one in English, ca. 1931. These items were removed from a copy of La Peau de Chagrin by Balzac.

Also included in the collection are a six page autograph signed letter, [1879], in French, from Alexandre Dumas fils (1824-1895) to [Madame Sidonie], removed from Peches de Jeunesse, and a partial autograph signed letter (lacking the first page), undated and in French, from Vicomte de [Francois-Auguste-Rene] Chateaubriand (1768-1848) to unknown recipients, removed from Chateaubriand's Memoires D'Outre-Tombe. There are also several newsclippings pertaining to the death of Chateaubriand. Finally, also included is an autopen note by President Richard Nixon.

English translations of all but the newsclippings and the note by President Nixon are included in the collection.