LAW, John (1671-1729). Autograph letter signed ('Law') to an unidentified recipient [Louis Henri, Duc de Bourbon (1692-1740)]), Venice, 1 March 1721.

LAW, John (1671-1729). Autograph letter signed ('Law') to an unidentified recipient [Louis Henri, Duc de Bourbon (1692-1740)]), Venice, 1 March 1721.

In French. Two pages, 260 x 190mm, on a bifolium.

Destitute in Italy after the collapse of his financial system, Law pleads for some restoration of his personal finances: 'I have just written to the regent about my personal affairs. Mme Law [i.e. Law's common-law wife, Katherine Knowles] will have the honour to pass the letter to Your Serene Highness and I beg you to be so kind as to give it to His Royal Highness [i.e. the Regent]. You may be assured that I have no possessions abroad: if I had I would not take the trouble to write a letter to increase them. I beg Your Serene Highness to continue your goodness and protection towards me'.

Law's system had brought its architect extraordinary wealth – in his concurrent letter to the Regent, Philippe d'Orléans, he cited a value of 100 million livres for his Mississippi shareholdings in 1720. There were widespread rumours, which Law attempts to scotch here, that he had managed to secure extensive assets outside France, but in reality the collapse of his system ruined him and he was to live out his last years between England and Italy, dying in poverty in Venice on 21 March 1729. Ironically, the Duke of Bourbon was himself enormously enriched by the Mississippi scheme, and escaped its collapse unscathed. According to ABPC/Rare Book Hub online, no autograph letter by Law has previously sold at international auction.