François-René de Chateaubriand is best-known for his Memoirs from Beyond the Tomb (get your copy of the Penguin Classics edition at Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk), and in France there's a fun legal case about what is apparently: "the only complete original manuscript" of the work -- deposited with a notary in 1836 (and replaced by a fuller version in 1847).
The notary-practice passed on to another family firm, and the current man in charge, Pascal Dufour apparently tried to sell the manuscript in 2012 -- but the French authorities have stepped in, saying he doesn't have the right to sell it, since he is only the safe-keeper; apparently things have been further muddied by the distant heirs claiming a stake.
See reports in The Guardian or at the BBC, or (in French) in Le Figaro.
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