ALS in French, signed “M. Curie,” two pages on two adjoining sheets, 5.25 x 8.5, Faculte Des Sciences De Paris letterhead, June 18, 1906. Letter to an unidentified gentleman. In full (translated): “You have come to see me recently to talk to me about a plaque made after Mr. Curie and I by Mr. Yencene and that the later wishes to edit. I have received a copy of this plaque from Mr. Yencene. I have found no resemblance between these portraits and Mr. Curie and I, and this did not surprise me since Mr. Curie has barely posed (only once for ½ hour I think), and that I have not posed at all. The plaque has therefore been done mostly after portraits by Piron, very mediocre and extremely retouched. I think that we cannot recognize Mr. Curie on this plaque. This opinion is not only mine but also the one of Mr. Curie’s father and of our friends to whom I have shown the plaque. And since this is to commemorate Mr. Curie’s while making his face known to the one who have not known him and rememorizing it to the one who have known him; - I cannot as far as I am concerned give my approval and authorization to the sale. I regret sincerely that my decision is not conform to your wishes and I would be grateful if you would communicate my reply to Mr. Yencene.” In fine condition, with a small crease and tiny paper tear at the lower left corner.
This letter, referencing a desire to create a plaque honoring the Curies, was developed about two months after Pierre Curie was killed accidentally by a horse-drawn vehicle, After his passing, Madame Curie wanted her husband to be properly memorialized and rejected any design that fell short of her expectations. Here, Curie bluntly proclaims that “I have found no resemblance between these portraits and Mr. Curie and I, and this did not surprise me since Mr. Curie has barely posed...I have not posed at all...since this is to commemorate Mr. Curie...I cannot as far as I am concerned give my approval.” Curie never forgave France for what she considered its rude treatment of her husband, including the failure to give him either the honors or the laboratory facilities he merited. After his untimely death, she devoted the rest of her life to erecting a laboratory in Paris that would be worthy of Pierre's memory and creating an image of the struggling scientist who encouraged the public to give researchers the support she had wanted for Pierre. She also requested that the Radium Standards Committee base the curie on a full gram of radium in his honor—a suggestion that was readily approved. Faithful words from the brilliant yet devastated Curie, who has written her last name a total of seven separate times.
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