Letter from Unidentified... (1838)

NRA-L-000564 / 1838

Letter from Unidentified correspondent to J. M. Frachon, 1838-10-30

An unidentified correspondent reports the illnesses of the writer's grandchildren Louis, Anna and Fargeon, the grave condition of their mother, and shipments of Roquefort cheese and a small box for Babet.

Neruda Archives
NRA-L-000564

NRA-L-000564 image 1 showing a folded French letter combining manuscript text, address panel, postal marks, seals, folds and retained annotations. — **Image 1**Combined letter text, address panel and postal evidence.

NRA-L-000564 image 2 showing a folded French letter combining manuscript text, address panel, postal marks, seals, folds and retained annotations. — **Image 2**Combined letter text, address panel and postal evidence.

Archive Record

Identifier: NRA-L-000564
Date: 1838-10-30
Original date: Nimes ce 30 8bre 1838
Type: Family correspondence
Language: French / fr
Sender: Unidentified correspondent
Recipient: J. M. Frachon
Places: Nîmes / Annonay, Ardèche
Extent: 2 documentary sides: Documentary page 1; Documentary page 2; 2 digital images.
Citation: Neruda Archives, NRA-L-000564.

Rights & reuse

Reuse is welcome. Publicly available images may be reused for non-commercial purposes with attribution, and automated machine use is permitted with provenance. Commercial republication requires prior written permission.

Full rights & reuse terms

Publicly available images, transcriptions, translations, metadata and descriptions may be copied, shared, reproduced and republished, in whole or in part, for non-commercial purposes, provided that Neruda Archives is clearly credited and the relevant item identifier and stable URL are preserved. This permission includes non-commercial scholarly, educational, editorial, exhibition, website and social-media use. Automated machine use, including crawling, indexing, text and data mining, retrieval, embeddings and AI training by commercial and non-commercial systems, is permitted, provided provenance is retained where technically feasible and the item identifier and stable URL are preserved in source records or associated documentation. Commercial publication, commercial reproduction, resale, advertising use, paid access to a database or dataset and bulk redistribution of images require prior written permission. For the avoidance of doubt, permission is not required merely because an AI system or its operator is commercial. The images displayed and downloadable on this page are public access copies, and the permissions above apply to those files. Access to non-public source scans (preservation masters) or files specially prepared for print, where available, requires prior written agreement. Attribution may not be removed or replaced by false or misleading attribution.

Transcript and English translation

working scholarly aid

Address panel

Original transcript

À Monsieur
Monsieur J. M. Frachon
à Annonay
Ardèche

Address panel

English translation

To Monsieur
Monsieur J. M. Frachon
at Annonay
Ardèche

Letter text - Image 1

Original transcript

nimes ce 30. 8bre 1838

Mon cher ami

je suis un peu en retard de tecrire . je lavoue
mai en voici la cause. je nai pas voulu te
donner de mauvaise nouvelle. voila le motif de
mon silence mais aujourdhui je puis te
rassurer sur la santé de mes petits Enfants.
ils vont tous tres bien dans ce moment.
mai je les ai Eu malade tous les Trois
a la fois . Louis. anna et fargeon
ils ont gardé le lit plusieurs jours atteints dun
gros catarre . fargeon a Eu de plus
une Esquinancie. il a fallu percer dans le
gosier un depot avec la lancette. je suis
le seul qui aie resisté . m. [sauriens?] etoit
a roquemaure. ajoute aux peines que
javois de les voir malade . Celle que jeprouve
de la situation de la mere. Son Etat Est
de plus En plus alarmant . la medecine ny peut
plus rien dun moment a autre nous nous
attendons a la perdre.

Letter text - Image 1

English translation

Nîmes this 30 October 1838

My dear friend

I am a little late in writing to you. I admit it
but here is the cause. I did not want to
give you bad news. That is the reason for
my silence but today I can
reassure you about the health of my grandchildren.
They are all doing very well at this moment.
But all three of them had been ill
at the same time. Louis, Anna and Fargeon
they stayed in bed several days suffering from a
severe catarrh. Fargeon had moreover
quinsy. It was necessary to lance an abscess in his
throat with a lancet. I am
the only one who resisted. Mr. [Sauriens?] was
at Roquemaure. Add to the pain that
I had seeing them sick, the one I feel
from the situation of the mother. Her state is
more and more alarming. Medicine can do
nothing more from one moment to another we
expect to lose her.

Documentary page 2

Original transcript

jai remis ce matin a un Commission.re
de cette ville un panier a ton adresse Cont.t
un fromage de roquefort . je desire que tu
le trouve bon. si dici a quelques jours
tu ne le recevois pas . previens moi pour
que je le reclame .
nous avons remis il y a quelques jours
a une personne qui se rendoit a lyon par la
diligence une petite boite a ton adresse. pour
remettre à Babet. cette boite devoit Etre
laissé a tain a m.r Enfantin directeur
avec prière de te la faire parvenir. Vous
Est-elle parvenue. mettez mème au
besoin. pour Eviter detours [fais?] la reclamer
au près de m.r Enfantin directement .
Donnez nous de nouvelles de
Vos Santes . recevez tous et de nous
tous nos Embrassements.
[signature illegible?]

Documentary page 2

English translation

I gave this morning to an errand boy
of this town a basket to your address containing
a Roquefort cheese. I wish that you
find it good. If a few days from now
you do not receive it, let me know so
that I can claim it.
We gave a few days ago
to a person who was going to Lyon by the
diligence a small box to your address, to
give to Babet. This box was to be
left at Tain to Mr. Enfantin director
with a request to forward it to you. Has it
reached you. Even put if
need be, to avoid detours [have?] it claimed
from Mr. Enfantin directly.
Give us news of
your health. Receive all and from us
all our embraces.
[signature illegible?]

Discovery Terms

Health and illness
Childhood diseases
Shipments
Frachon Family Correspondence

Transcriptions and English translations are provided as working scholarly aids, not as replacements for the images of the original documents. Some readings may remain uncertain, especially where handwriting, spelling, damage, abbreviations, names or places are difficult.

Some transcriptions and translations may be prepared with the assistance of AI tools and reviewed by Neruda Archives before publication. Better readings, corrections and alternative translations are welcome when they are supported by the manuscript image, context or reliable sources.

When suggesting a correction, please include the item ID, the relevant line or image area, the proposed reading or translation, and the evidence for it.

Suggest a better reading or correction

Relevant line or image area Proposed reading or translation Evidence or reason

Your name Your email

Your name and email are optional. Personal data is used only to assess, document and, where possible, respond to this correction. See the Privacy Notice.