![[VOLTAIRE, François-Marie Arouet de.]](/photos/433/main/full_433.jpg "[VOLTAIRE, François-Marie Arouet de.]")
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8vo (185 × 110 mm), pp. [iv], viii, ‘358’ [but 354, with 273-276 omitted in pagination], bound without final blank leaf (Z2) but otherwise complete, with 20 engraved plates by Gravelot, head- and tailpieces. Lightly browned and spotted throughout. Slightly later (c. ?1800) Italian sprinkled sheep, gilt, sides with rolled borders and floral/oval cornerpieces enclosing green morocco onlays, that on the upper cover giving the author and title, the lower. ‘Ex libris Comit. Augus. Sfortiae’, 2 black morocco spine labels. Slightly rubbed spine with 3 small wormholes towards the head. A good copy.
First edition acknowledged by Voltaire, with the additional 5 ‘chants’. Begun in 1730, and constantly under revision, Voltaire’s licentious and incendiary account of the French national hero, became one of the most notorious and frequently-suppressed books of the century. It circulated initially in manuscript drafts (certainly against the author’s intention and prompting him to prepare to leave the country in 1735) but was finally published in 1755 and again in 1756 and 1757 with additional verses. In the preface to this 1762 edition Voltaire complains that the book had been disseminated without his approval, since a certain German princess, to whom a reading copy of the manuscript had been lent, took it upon herself to make and circulate a transcription.
Bengesco 488; Weil 609 (numerous confiscations several editions); Darnton 583;
£300.00
(equal to approx. US$475.04* or €371.01* for 22 May 2012)
* Dollar and Euro prices are given as a guideline only. The actual exchange rate may vary according to your payment option.
