PHILOLOGY. Jean-Baptiste LE CHEVALIER (Trelly 1752 - 1836) F - Lot 367

PHILOLOGY. Jean-Baptiste LE CHEVALIER (Trelly 1752 - 1836) French astronomer, traveler, archaeologist and man of letters. From 1806, he was curator of the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève. Autograph letter signed, 2 pages in-4°, Paris October 13, 1813. "My passion for Arabic and Hebrew has rekindled somewhat... I must submit to you a project I have just formed to get a clear idea of the analogy between the two languages. I'm going to read the Alcoran from cover to cover, try to find the root of each Arabic word, and immediately look for the corresponding word in Hebrew... if you approve of this idea, please receive my work on the two languages from time to time, and put your observations in the margin. I had imagined that there was some translation or commentary of the Alcoran in which I would have found the breakdown of the words and their root. It would have saved me a lot of work, but I can't find anything like it in our library. If you know of any such work, I would be grateful if you could point it out to me, or if you could discuss it with Mr de SACY, paying him my respects. I spent my last few days at Mr LANGLÈS's to have the pleasure of seeing him and finding out whether the Peace Treaty had been ratified...".