Alexandre-Balthazar-Laurent Grimod de la Reynière: 12 ALS, 1781-1829

RLIN ID No.

NYGG05-A3

Main Entry

Grimod de La Reynière, Alexandre-Balthazar-Laurent, 1758-1837.

Title

Autograph letters signed, 1781-1829.

Physical Description

12 letters

Historical/Biographical Note

Theater critic and writer on gastronomy who has been called the first systematic critic of cooking. In addition to publications on food, including the Almanach de Gourmands, which he edited from 1803 to 1812, Grimod de La Reynière was a coauthor of the multi-volume “chronique scandeleuse,” Correspondance secrète, politique et littéraire… (1790) relating to the reign of Louis XVI. Between 1780 and 1782 Grimod de La Reynière published extracts from French plays and information the theatrical world of Paris in the Journal helvétique published by the Société Typographique de Neuchâtel in Switzerland. During the last decades of his life he lived at the Chateau de Villiers-sur-Orge outside of Paris.

Scope and Contents Note

Of the collection of twelve autograph letters signed, eight were written from Paris between 1781 and 1782 to the Société Typographique de Neuchâtel, which issued editions of L’Encyclopédie. One letter, dated by the French revolutionary calendar as 23 Floreal 8 (1800 May 13) is addressed to the Parisian bookseller and publisher, Claude-François Maradan. The last three are dated from Villiers-sur-Orge from 1826 (27 May) to 1829 (21 April) and are addressed to his wife.

Language Note

In French.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Edwin Wolf II; 1979 28 September.

Names

Maradon, Claude-François, 1762-1823.

Wolf, Edwin, 1911-, donor.

Société Typographique de Neuchâtel.

Journal helvétique.

Location

Grolier Club, 47 East 60^th Street, New York, N.Y. 10022-1098