FRONDE. Jean-François Paul de Gondi, cardinal de RETZ (1613- - Lot 470

FRONDE. Jean-François Paul de Gondi, cardinal de RETZ (1613-1679). Period manuscript, December 14, 1654; small folio, 27 pages. Period copy of Cardinal de Retz's famous letter to the archbishops and bishops of France, written from his Roman exile after his spectacular escape from Nantes prison. Champollion-Figeac, in the "Complément de la vie du cardinal de Retz" that follows the new edition of the Mémoires du cardinal de Retz, in 1837, points out that it was published clandestinely at the time, but was immediately condemned to be burnt by the hand of the executioner, and seems no longer to exist. The first editors of the Mémoires du cardinal de Retz published one, but on May 22, 1655, "although similar in some ideas and phrases to that of December 14, 1654, but which is not the same piece" probably composed by some of the cardinal's friends at Port-Royal. "But the real letter from Cardinal de Retz, that of December 14th, had been so carefully suppressed that it would be lost to history were it not for the copy, the only one of its kind to date, which is to be found in the historical collections of the Manuscripts Department of the King's Library. This is probably the only known copy in private hands.