Voltaire (Bazin) - La philosophie de l’Histoire - 1765

VOLTAIRE]: (BAZIN, abbé, pseudonym of Voltaire), The philosophy of History by fire the abbé Bazin, Amsterdam, Changuion, 1765 (the SAME YEAR AS the 1st), 8° (cm. 19.5 x 12.5), pp. VIII, 268, marbled endpapers, contemporary full leather binding, gold-tooled spine. N.B.: Printed in the same year as the first by the same publisher (he printed 3 issues with different page counts and a different woodcut device on the frontispiece: this can be considered the original edition; the first should be the one with VIII+336 pp., the third has 304 pp.; this one is of slightly larger format). This is the anonymous edition of Voltaire’s essay (for the author’s name see Barbier, vol. 3 p. 876), dedicated to Catherine II of Russia, who later he would incorporate into his “Essai sur les mœurs.” It contains the complete dedication page to Catherine the Great: «À Très Haute et Très Auguste Princesse Catherine II. Impératrice de Toutes les Russies, Protectrice des Arts et des Sciences; Digne par Son Esprit de Juger des Anciennes Nations, Comme Elle est Digne de Gouverner la Sienne. Offert très-humblement par le neveu de l’Auteur». The Philosophy of History or “The lessons that history teaches the philosophers,” written to instruct Madame du Châtelet, would become a broad introduction to the “Essay on the Manners and Spirit of Nations” (1769); it is a collection of curious historical questions concerning India, China, the Jews, the angels, popular prejudices, and geniuses. It was condemned and banned in France as early as 1765. The essay is learned and well documented, but irony shines through every page: it is a portrait of the history of peoples, of the world, of religions, and of their genealogies. The author’s intention is to show that religions are not revelations, but have a cultural history. The price is particularly low also because it includes a potential binding. Fair to good condition: there are traces of moisture inside, notably a damp stain on the upper part of the outer white margin, more evident on the frontispiece (see photo) but persistent (the rest is in order); binding in poorer shape: spine damaged with losses, boards dry and cracked with abrasions (a book of great importance, moreover sprawling in margin, which is recommended to be rebound, discarding the old binding which is irrecoverable).

Estimate:$1.12

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