VOLTAIRE

Lot .L24
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Result : 800EUR
VOLTAIRE
Complete works. [Kehl]. From the printing house of the Literary Typographical Society. 1784-1789. 70 volumes in-8, brown rooted calf, smooth spines partitioned and ornamented with red individual title and general tomaison parts, fine geometrical framing on the covers, ornate cuts, yellow edges; spines slightly rubbed, a few volumes with small skins and rare tears, small marginal wet spots on a few leaves of volumes vii, xi and xxviii; the last table leaf in vol. xl (contemporary binding) is missing. EXAMPLES IN IN-8 FORMAT ON FINER GLASS. All volumes with titles as of 1784 except the last one dated 1789. A MONUMENTAL EDITION FINANCED BY BEAUMARCHAIS AND DIRECTED BY CONDORCET, which appeared simultaneously in the in-8 and in-12 formats: it stands out as the most complete, beautiful and orderly publication to date. In addition to Voltaire's literary, historical and philosophical works, for the first time several plays, unpublished texts and, above all, his epistolary work, undoubtedly the most engaging and lively. Beaumarchais did everything possible to carry out this gigantic undertaking: he bought the typefaces of the English typographer Baskerville, acquired three stationery shops in the Vosges, set up a printing works in Kehl (a territory protected from French censorship) and spent a fortune to acquire Voltaire's letters and manuscripts. IMPORTANT ILLUSTRATION ENGRAVED ON COPPER OUTSIDE TEXT. 125 plates: a dedication with a portrait of King Frederick William of Prussia, 17 portraits (the 14 ordinary portraits and 3 of the 5 rare additional portraits added in part or in full to the copies on large paper), 92 (of 93) plates after drawings by Jean-Michel Moreau the Younger (without the frontispiece by Alzire or the Americans in volume II), a plan for the History of the Russian Empire under Peter the Great, and 14 plates of physics. IMPORTANT DECORATIVE SET.
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