[FREYCINET] Manuscript letter signed by Jacques Arago by ARAGO, Jacques Étienne Victor (1790 - 1855)

Single sheet (250 x 270 mm), folded vertically, the blindstamped initials 'J.A.' impressed into the paper, with a short message written in ink in the hand of Arago's secretary (Arago had lost his sight in 1837), signed in pencil in the frail hand of the aged Arago himself and dated 9 October 1853. The letter is addressed to 'The editorship of the Press' (publication unknown), thanking them on behalf of his family for their condolences on the death of his brother, the mathematician, astronomer and politician François Arago. Jacques Arago sailed with Freycinet on his 1817 voyage in the Uranie, and later wrote and illustrated the chronicle of the expedition in Promenade autour du monde (1822). Original correspondence from this important figure is scarce.