Voltaire

16849 — Voltaire. Oeuvres Completes de Voltaire Tome Quarante-Deuxieme. Dictionnaire Philosophique M-P. 1784: Published by De l'Imprimerie de la Societe Litteraire most likely in Paris. First Edition. Octavo. Leather boards title plates to spine. 475 pages. Beautifully marbled edges and endpapers. 0 copies of this edition held in any U.S. Libraries or institutions per OCLC Worldcat. Includes entries on "Magie" "Messes" "Martyrs" "Oracles" "Plagiat" and more. The Dictionnaire was both extremely popular and widely censored making such an early first edition as this one quite uncommon. It was a lifelong project for Voltaire and represents the culmination of his views on Christianity God morality justice and other subjects. In very good condition. Leather scuffed and and Ex-Library stamp to the title page. Mild toning to pages but otherwise clean and textblock tight. In French. <br/><br/>The Enlightenment saw the creation of a new way of structuring information in books: alphabetization. Having witnessed first-hand the popularity and many advantages of this form Voltaire set to work on his own dictionary with some modifications. Unlike the lengthy-- and thus expensive-- compendiums of his peers Voltaire's Dictionnaire would be affordable and fit in one's pocket. "Revolutionary material" Voltaire commented "must be small enough for people to carry with them." The Dictionnaire espouses tolerance freedom of the press and decries the Catholic Church's injustices. While the Dictionnaire was immensely popular and sold out many times in Voltaire's lifetime it was also censored in many countries including Switzerland Geneva and France where this copy was printed. In these countries all available editions of the book were collected and burned in the town square. Voltaire who remained an anonymous author was repeatedly asked if he minded that the Dictionnaire was being burned but he calmly replied that he had no reason to be upset. unknown books