TLS in French, one page, 7.25 x 11, May 6, 1939. Trotsky writes to his lawyer, Gérard Rosenthal. In full (translated): “We have received with delay the new copy of the letter of Jeanne Molinier concerning the documents and things left by Léon, the first copy had been burned on the ‘Paris.’ I will not enter into the criticism of the ‘considérants,’ which are materially false as you know as well as I. To proceed, I propose the following 1- to materially take possession of all the objects and documents in question; 2- to invite Jeanne Molinier for the moment when the letters and documents will need to be classified in order to give her the possibility of taking immediate possession of the correspondence between her and Léon Sédov so she can be absolutely certain that no one has touched this correspondence; 3- as for the objects, they all must be given to Jeanne Molinier. For the photos of Léon that we do not have, we reserve the right to make copies. But this goes without saying… All the precautionary measures will naturally be taken to ensure that the handing over of the documents be protected from possible attacks.” In fine condition, with intersecting folds, pencil notation to top left corner, and a bit of light toning.
This letter serves as a virtual “Who’s Who” in Trotsky’s life while in exile in Mexico. Once serving as second in command to Vladimir Lenin following the 1917 Russian Revolution, Trotsky eventually had to flee his homeland. Rosenthal was Trotsky’s attorney and agent in Paris, as well as a member of the French Bolshevik-Leninist movement. Léon Sédov was Trotsky’s son who died in 1938 following an appendectomy in a Paris hospital—some say as the result of Stalin’s orders. The Paris is a reference to a French ocean liner that caught fire in April 1939, while the Considérants were followers of Victor Considérant, a French utopian socialist and author of The Principles of Socialism. Molinier, for whom no love was lost, was Sédov’s wife. At the center of the conflict were bundles of documents belonging to Trotsky. Many of those papers survived and are now housed in three major collections: Harvard University’s Houghton Library, Amsterdam’s International Institute for Social History, and Stanford University’s Archives of the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace. An intriguing piece of correspondence that carries with it all of the mystery and intrigue that only Stalinist Russia could create. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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