Descripción

4to (176 x 224 mm). 1 p. on a bifolium. Addressed to Nicholas Esterházy, nicknamed "the Splendid", in German. - The later emperor Joseph II, famous for his enlightened and anti-clerical reforms, writes to Nikolaus Esterházy, the Hungarian prince and main patron of the composer Joseph Haydn, about another Hungarian noble, the count Christoph Erdödy, whose lavish lifestyle had forced him to borrow immense sums of money. Joseph complains that Erdödy’s "confused legal disputes" ("seine verwirrten Rechtshändel") seem to drag his own name into these affairs. He asks Esterházy to investigate Erdödy’s conduct and give him the warning that Joseph might be very displeased. Later in the 1770s Erdödy had to sell some of his land and estates. - Light browning, slight flaw to verso from opening of the seal (of which some remnants survive), but otherwise in fine and fresh condition. - Alfred Bovet (1831-91), his sale Charavay, 1887, lot 97.