Joseph de MAISTRE. Autograph letter. “Your friend and brother, Joseph,” Turin, August 19, 1818, to Chevalier de Saint-Réal in Genoa; 3 pages, in-4 format, addressed (small tear caused by a broken seal). Family letter (Chevalier Jacques-Alexis de Saint-Réal had married Anne de Maistre, sister of Joseph and Xavier). Saint-Réal has just been appointed Intendant of the Navy in Genoa, and his brother-in-law is delighted that he and his wife are arriving at their “dock.” He, meanwhile, is up to his neck in paperwork, having gone through all his files, and with the help of his daughter Constance, he has been able to “finally escape this chaos in which I was completely losing my mind. […] You’ll soon receive the excerpt from my *Philosophical Lucubrations*” in exchange for the Chevalier’s geological observations… Maistre then gives news of the family: his children “make him—it must be admitted—as happy as one can be here on earth”; his two daughters have made great progress: “It may be a father’s delusion, but I see them improving every day. Make fun of me if you like. My Rodolphe is also doing very well”; his wife Françoise, whom he praises, works wonders. But he cannot recover from “the enormous loss” he suffered with the death of his brother [André-Marie de Maistre, the unconsecrated bishop of Aosta, who died on July 18, 1818]: “That dear André is always before my eyes. Sometimes I speak to him; never has there been a dead person more alive to me.” He hopes, however, for a future reunion: “Will I cross the Alps, or will I not? It is still an unsolvable problem”… Former collection of Maurizio Seyssel of Aix.