Autograph letter. Lettera autografa firmata dal Barone Pierre Michel M Alexandre De Chalvet De Souville alla sorella Constance, [..]

4to. 255x198 mm. Three leaves. Bifolio letter, a leaf with recipient address “Madame la Marquise de Foresta, née Souville, … Bouches du Rhone”. Prephilatelic with “Le Havre” stamped over the address. Elegant and nitid handwriting, sepia ink. Nice conditions.

Letter sent from Saint-Denis, capital of the island of La Réunion, in the Indian Ocean. Important document on the conditions of the French nobility in the second Restoration. The father had been the governor of the island, an important overseas colony of France, from 1781 to 1785 and the family still owned some properties on the island, but had contracted several debts. “Nous sommes dans ce moment-ci, en marchè pour vendre l’habitation de Sainte Marie … Il y a si peu d’argent dans ce pays-ci, qu’ol est bien difficile de trouver des acquéreurs … et je paraitrai comme ton procureur , si l’on vend Sainte-Marie”. The husband of his sister, who in 1811 had married the marquis Marie-Joseph de Foresta-Collongue, marquis de La Roquette, who had just been appointed sub-prefect, is mentioned. The marquis made a great career in the French administration: a man of letters of vast culture, he was a member of the "Société des sciences, des lettres, de l'agriculture et des arts d'Aix-en-Provence" of which he became President in 1818.