1800s Handwritten French Promissory Note and Letter from Vimoutiers

On offer is a superb example of a promissory note and accompanying letter written within a few years of the fall of Napoleon.

The letter was drafted in Vimoutiers, a town in Normandy. (Vimoutiers is the birthplace of Camenbert cheese). The author of the letter is a man names Delislelys. It is addressed to his nephew. Our informal research has not been able to find any additional biographical information.

An excerpt from the letter is as follows:

J'aurais reponder un peut plutot a la lettre que vous m'aver fait l'amitie de a ecrire si le depart de nos me freres n'eut pas ete si prochaines. Je vous restere toute la part qui je prends a la perte que vous vener on pour [] que nous venon de faire

[Translation: I would have replied a little more to the letter that you advised me as a friend to write if the departure of our brothers had not been so soon. I shall leave to you all the part that I take in the loss that you have just suffered for [] what we have just done.]

Accompanying the letter is a promissory note for 200 franc – worth today about USD535.00. That was a substantial sum, equal to about the wages for a year and a quarter.

The promissory note reads:

Je prie Mr Prevost de vouloir bien payer a Mr Auber 200 F qui iront pouit ete pris de mois dernier nous servus au bon pour le 16 mars.

[Translation: I would like to ask Mr. Prevost to pay Mr. Auber 200 F which could have been taken from last month and given to us on the voucher for March 16.]

This is a fine example of correspondence between people who knew and trusted each other, This highlights the precariousness, relative to today, of banking and transferring monies from a distance.

For someone in the financial world, this is an eloquent example the precariousness, relative to today, of banking and transferring monies from a distance and the trust implicit in such arrangements.

The 4-page letter measures 8.5 inches by 6.25 inches and is 25% complete. The much smaller note itself is a 1-sided piece measuring 3.5 inches by 5.5 inches.