DENIS (Ferdinand) - Lot 45

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 Portuguese literature. Autograph draft signed by Ferdinand Denis, Paris, April 15, 1867; 4 pp. in-8. Important and dense working draft addressed to Édouard-Benjamin Frère, in which Ferdinand Denis develops numerous bibliographical, historical and academic considerations. The scholar begins by referring to a number of scholarly studies on early voyages and accounts of Canada and the Mississippi. In particular, he mentions the work of Pierre Margry, as well as various publications devoted to French explorations in North America, questioning certain attributions and the documentary value of several early texts. Denis then turns to questions of literary history, and criticizes several contemporary editions, noting one "almost unobtainable" work and various "incomplete" publications. The tone is that of a true scholarly exchange, nourished by precise bibliographical references and critical remarks on the works of their contemporaries. The second part of the draft returns to the academic concerns already present in other letters in this correspondence. Denis speaks kindly of his correspondent's son, recalling the importance of the law exams and promising to intervene "with alacrity" to support his application to several professors. Taken together, they testify to the intellectual and personal solidarity that united the world of bibliographers and scholarly administrators at the time. A very interesting working document, revealing Ferdinand Denis in the intimacy of his scholarly reflection and epistolary practice, with numerous erasures, corrections and autograph repeats. Bends, small old marginal loss without affecting the text; good condition.