Abstract
An unpublished letter from Bernardin de Saint-Plerre to Catherine II, presented by Alexandre Stroev. Several unpublished letters (one dated 1773, from Bernardin de Saint-Pierre to Catherine II, and two dated 1771 and 1786, from Prince V.S. Dolgourouki to Bernardin) from the archives and libraries of Moscow, Amsterdam and Le Havre, make it possible to trace the history of the French writer's contacts with Russia. The former member of the Russian army sent Catherine II his Voyages à l'île de France (1773) in an attempt to strengthen his literary reputation and win imperial favour, then tried in vain to send her his Études de la nature (1785). Only at the begining of the 19th Century did the Imperial family subscribe to a luxury edition of Paul et Virginie. Bernardin' s correspondence and works present both true and mythological images of Russia. A letter (1805), now in Moscow, from Bernardin to his second wife, is published in an appendix.
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