Autograph letter signed : [Paris], to Jean-Baptiste Massieu, 1795 Apr. 28

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Informing that the Ecole was to teach Malay but the Bibliothèque Nationale does not have a single grammar nor a book in Malay except for a Bible at the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal; saying that it costs him much trouble and money to build his own small collection before the Revolution and that the Dutch had printed several grammars and dictionaries both in Europe and East Indies; requesting recipient's help to source for books and appending a list of 11 works on Malay (printed either in Amsterdam or in Batavia from 1604 to 1780) known to him that he would like to acquire for the library. Letter was written when Langlès became the director of the Ecole des langues orientales vivantes and it provides an insight into the state of knowledge and progress in studies of the Malayan language in Revolutionary Paris.