MICHAUD (Joseph François). - Lot 211

MICHAUD (Joseph François). (1767–1839) Historian, journalist, member of the Académie française. Signed autograph letter to Joseph Toussaint Reinaud, with attached manuscript. No place, no date (circa 1830). Set of 3 handwritten items mounted on a vellum sheet: - 1 autograph letter (1 p., in-12) - 1 autograph manuscript titled *Notes on Cairo* (2 pp.) - 1 sheet from an old mounting Letter addressed to the Orientalist Joseph Toussaint Reinaud, in which Michaud requests his assistance in writing an article on Arabic songs: “…so that I may say a few words about the volume of Arabic songs… what these songs are, what their spirit is… I cannot say anything sensible without you… ” The attached manuscript provides a firsthand account of his journey to the East, containing ethnographic observations on daily life in Cairo: - staple foods (fava beans, unleavened bread, dates, sesame) - social and economic customs - living conditions and climate - perceptions of diseases and the Egyptian people The collection is part of the context of Michaud’s journey to the East (around 1830), which gave rise to his *Correspondance d’Orient*.