DENIS (Ferdinand) - Lot 44

DENIS (Ferdinand) Ferdinand Denis Paris, 1798 - Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 1890. Traveler, historian, bibliographer and administrator of the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, specialist in Brazilian history and French letters. L.A.S. "Ferdinand Denis" to Édouard-Benjamin Frère, Paris, December 8, 1867; 3 pp. in-8 on Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève letterhead. Beautiful literary letter addressed to the Norman bibliographer and historian Édouard-Benjamin Frère, in which Ferdinand Denis warmly thanks him for sending a work devoted to Corneille and the Pascal family. Denis enthusiastically evokes "the great name of Corneille", regarding the recently unearthed fragments as veritable "relics", and underlines the importance of the scholarly work accomplished by his correspondent in the service "not only of Normandy but of literate France". He also revisits the figure of Jacqueline Pascal, whom he considers "a charming figure" in Frère's writings, while regretting that certain aspects of Blaise Pascal's father remain insufficiently known. The letter also bears witness to the literary sociability networks of the time. Denis congratulates his correspondent's son on a recent academic victory, which he attributes to "serious work", and mentions various contemporary scholarly works, including notes on the Cavalier de la Salle and a project to edit the complete works of Pierre Margry. A very fine set, revealing all Ferdinand Denis's critical finesse and literary sensitivity, in a correspondence nourished by bibliographical admiration and scholarly friendship. Very well preserved; usual folds.