Overview of the Collection |
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| Creator: | Lamartine, Alphonse de, 1790-1869. |
| Title: | Alphonse de Lamartine Collection |
| Inclusive Dates: | 1829-1867 |
| Quantity: | 0.75 linear ft. |
| Abstract: | Papers of the French author, poet. Autograph letters signed (176), including 154 to his niece, Valentine de Cessiat; also 12 letters from Marianne de Lamartine to various correspondents. Also, one 2-page manuscript of Lamartine, and one 4-page manuscript of his niece. |
| Language: | French |
| Repository: | Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Library 222 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 http://scrc.syr.edu |
Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine (1790-1869) was a French writer, poet and politician.
| 1790 Oct 21 | Born at Mâcon to a Royalist family. | |
| 1794 | The Lamartine household moves to Milly. | |
| 1803-1807 | He attends school at the Jesuit college at Belley. | |
| 1811 | Travel in Italy. | |
| 1812 | Returns to France. | |
| 1814 | Enters the Gardes du Corps. | |
| 1815 | In Switzerland during the Hundred Days. | |
| 1817 | Returns to Paris from the country and becomes active in society. | |
| 1818-1819 | Revisits Italy, Switzerland, and Savoy. | |
| 1820 | Les Méditations poétiques, his first published book. Marries Maria Anna Eliza Birch, an Englishwoman. | |
| 1820-1821 | At Naples; he remained in diplomatic service until 1829. | |
| 1821 | Birth of Valentine de Cessiat, to whom Lamartine wrote most of the letters in this collection. | |
| 1822 | Visits England. | |
| 1823 | Les Nouvelles méditations published. | |
| 1825-1828 | In Florence as legation secretary. | |
| 1829 | Elected to the Académie Française. | |
| 1830 | Having given up his diplomatic career, he takes an active interest in politics after the Revolution of 1830. | |
| 1832 | Travels in Greece, Syria, and Palestine. The Lamartines' only surviving child, Julia, dies at Beirut. | |
| 1833 | Elected a deputy to the national assembly, where he gained a reputation as an orator. | |
| 1836 | The narrative poem Jocelyn published. | |
| 1838 | La Chute d'un ange published. | |
| 1839 | The publication of Les Recueillements poétiques marks the virtual end of his poetic output. | |
| 1847 | Histoire des Girondins. | |
| 1848 Feb | In the Revolution of 1848 he becomes an important national figure as the minister of foreign affairs, as the effective head of the provisional government, and as one of five members of the Executive Committee. | |
| 1848 Dec | Loses as a candidate for the presidency of the Republic. | |
| 1849 | Le Conseiller du peuple begins publication. Les Confidences and Histoire de la Révolution de 1848 are published. | |
| 1851 Dec | Retires from public life after the coup d'état of Louis-Napoleon. | |
| 1850s-1860s | In his last years, having incurred great debts during his political career, he attempts to restore his finances through the writing of many volumes of history and biography. | |
| 1863 | Maria Anna Eliza Lamartine dies. | |
| 1867 | The Assembly votes Lamartine a subsidy. | |
| 1867 Sep? | Lamartine probably marries Valentine de Cessiat, one of the daughters of his sister Cécile. | |
| 1869 Feb 28 | Dies at Paris. |
The Alphonse de Lamartine Collection contains 191 letters and several incidental items. Dated items in the collection span the years 1829 to 1867, but the years 1842 to 1854 are the most heavily represented.
Most of the correspondence consists of autograph letters, signed, of Lamartine. One hundred fifty-four of these letters, dating from 1841 to 1856, are addressed to his favorite niece, Valentine de Cessiat. In these letters, most of which are three to five pages in length, he wrote of his political fortunes and his literary and personal concerns. One letter, dated 28 May 1845, is the poem "La fleur des eaux," with deletions and with variations from the text as it appears in Oeuvres poétiques complètes, edited by M.-F. Guyard ([Paris], Gallimard, 1963). Approximately fifty-eight of these letters to Valentine de Cessiat have been published, often with significant omissions, in Marie-Thérèse Emile Ollivier, Valentine de Lamartine (Paris, Librairie Hachette, 1908) and Lamartine et ses nièces; correspondence inédite (Paris, Les petits-fils de Plon et Nourrit, [1928]). There are three letters from Valentine de Cessiat to Lamartine.
Dated correspondence is arranged chronologically; letters dated only to the year precede letters of the same year with complete dates. Many of the Lamartine letters lack complete dates in his own handwriting, but are arranged either by dates supplied from pencil notations on the letters themselves or, in the case of letters with accompanying transcripts, by dates penciled onto the transcripts. These penciled dates may be postmark dates from envelopes discarded before the letters' arrival at Syracuse. One date has been supplied at Syracuse from a postmark, and another date has been supplied from a dealer- catalogue entry that is attached to the letter. These penciled dates on the majority of the letters are not verified.
Undated correspondence (arranged alphabetically first by the name of the writer, thereunder by the name of the addressee) and correspondence without year dates (arranged by month) are filed after the dated correspondence. All of the correspondence is in French, and approximately half of the letters are accompanied by typed transcripts. Each letter is placed in an individual folder.
There are, in addition, seventeen letters from Lamartine to fifteen other correspondents, five letters from Lamartine to unidentified correspondents, and twelve letters of Maria A. E. (Birch) de Lamartine, ten of which are addressed to her physician, Jules Tallien de Cabarrus. An index of the correspondence begins on page 6.
In the section of miscellaneous items at the end of the collection are a stamped letter cover bearing a Paris postmark of 25 November 1858, a letter cover fragment, and a quarto sheet on which Lamartine set forth in a two-page holograph his conditions for the establishment of a political newspaper.
Letters are arranged in chronological order. An index to correspondence is given at the end of this inventory.
There are no access restrictions on this material.
Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.
Preferred citation for this material is as follows:
Alphonse de Lamartine Collection,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Library
Correspondence between Lamartine and Valentine de Cessiat, Purchase, 1958. Twelve Maria A. E. (Birch) de Lamartine letters, fifteen Lamartine letters, and three miscellaneous items, Purchase, 1969. Seven letters of Lamartine, Purchase, 1971.
Created by: EL
Date: Apr 1975
Revision history: 5 Jun 2009 - converted to EAD (MRC)
| Correspondence | |||||||||||
| Box 1 | 1829, 1836, 1839, 1841-1848 (11 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 2 | 1849-1853, April (5 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 3 | 1853, May-Dec (8 folders) | ||||||||||
| Box 3 | Undated | ||||||||||
| Box 3 | Partial dates (8 folders) | ||||||||||
| Miscellanea | |||||||||||
| Box 3 | [Conditions for establishing a political newspaper] undated | ||||||||||
| Box 3 | Letter covers 1858, undated | ||||||||||
