Beschreibung:

LAW, John (1671-1729). Autograph letter signed ('Law') to an unidentified recipient [Louis Henri, Duc de Bourbon (1692-1740)]), Venice, 24 January 1721. In French. 1½ pages, 289 x 205mm, on a bifolium, docketed by recipient (discolouration on blank verso of f.2). Law after his fall, pleading for some return of influence and prosperity: 'I am the enemy of no one'. In the first, Law expresses deep gratitude for a letter written by the Duke to M. de Chavigny, whom Law has seen and who has spoken to him of it [the French diplomat Théodore Chevignard, chevalier de Chavigny, was a friend of Law's but also an ally of his powerful opponent Cardinal Dubois]. He goes on: 'les absens principalement ceux de mon espece n'ont que peu d'amis, en revenge je ne suis ennemi de personne. Je souhaitte a tous ceux qui servent le regent succes dans leur ministere.. [Exiles, especially those of my sort, have few friends, and yet I am nobody's enemy. I wish success in their ministry to all those who serve the regent]'. The recipient, the Duc de Bourbon, is a key player in Law's rise and fall, and made two crucial interventions on his behalf, lobbying for his reappointment after his first dismissal from office on 29 May 1720, and then arranging for his safe passage from France after his definitive fall in December 1720, when the collapse of his financial system had caused an economic crises of historic proportions. In the early months (and even years) of his exile, Law did not altogether abandon hope of a recall to France, and his eager gratitude for Bourbon's recommendation of him to Chavigny should be seen in this context. According to ABPC/Rare Book Hub online, no autograph letter by Law has previously sold at international auction.