LETTRES ECRITES DE LONDRES SUR LES ANGLOIS ET AUTRES SUJECTS. PAR M. D. V.
173446420<p>Basle i.e. London : by W. Bowyer 1734. First edition. Although an English translation had been published in London as "Letters Concerning the English Nation" in 1733 this is the first appearance of the original French text of the book now generally known as the "Lettres Philosophiques" and as "the first bomb thrown at the Ancien Régime". It has been said of Voltaire that "he came to England a poet and left it a philosopher": however that may be this book resulting from his stay in 1726-1728 is "one of the greatest and most influential works of the eighteenth century and beyond . the book that taught the whole of Europe how to think" Voltaire Foundation. The letters contrasting English and French thinking deal variously with religion in England - Quakers Anglicans Presbyterians and Socinians; politics parliament and Magna Carta; trade commerce and the businessman who "contributes to the felicity of the world"; English empiricism and Francis Bacon John Locke and Isaac Newton; and literature - Shakespeare above all Wycherley Congreve Swift and Pope etc. The London publishers' preface is interesting on the author's extreme reluctance to sanction a French-language edition - they had suppressed this edition for an entire year but others were now preparing illicit editions and they now had to displease the author to please the public. The furore which greeted the French editions when they appeared probably justified Voltaire's reluctance and the use here of a fake Basle imprint. Foolscap 8vo 171 x 103mm. viii228xxpp. Bound in a creditable modern rendition of early eighteenth-century full panelled calf; sprinkled edges; a few slight marks; Voltaire's name added to title-page in manuscript; faint fringe of very pale discolouration to fore-edge throughout text barely visible in most places; a few minor internal marks and tiny flaws but a good copy of one of the key books of the Enlightenment. Eighteenth-century 1768 ownership inscription now obscured.</p> Basle [i.e. London : by W. Bowyer], 1734. hardcover
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