1 / 10
Photo 1/10 du lotPhoto 2/10 du lotPhoto 3/10 du lotPhoto 4/10 du lotPhoto 5/10 du lotPhoto 6/10 du lotPhoto 7/10 du lotPhoto 8/10 du lotPhoto 9/10 du lotPhoto 10/10 du lot
Premium KÂ- MONDO / KAPANDJI MORHANGE

305 - VOLTAIRE, Complete Works. An exceptional copy of a rare comp…
See original version (French)

Estimate €3,000 - €5,000
Sale commission
Description
VOLTAIRE, Complete Works. An exceptional copy of a rare completeness of the famous Kehl edition illustrated with plates and portraits by Moreau le Jeune enriched with the second suite given by Moreau for the 1802 edition. S.l. [Kehl], Société Littéraire-Typographique, 1785-1789. 70 and 4 complementary volumes in-8, long-grained fir morocco basane, ribbed spine decorated with gilt fillets and boxes with decoration at the corners, boards decorated with antique-style framing, sides decorated with a gilt fillet, inner gilt border, light blue paper counter-papers decorated with a cold framing, end-papers of the same paper, all edges gilt. Approximately 450 pages per volume, 206 plates and 48 engraved portraits, 14 plates of physics. Minor wear to boards, corners dulled, some foxing in places. Copy of the second edition on vellum paper of these OEuvres de Voltaire illustrated with 94 plates and 16 portraits engraved by Delvaux, Lingée, Simonet, Dambrun, Duclos, Delignon, Guttenberg ... after compositions by Moreau le Jeune, ours enriched with the new suite of illustrations given by the same for the Renouard edition in 1802 bringing the total number of plates and portraits to 254. Also bound are several additional portraits from various editions as well as the frontispiece to the suite of prints published by the artist on his own account in the first volume. This copy is completed, bound identically, with the four volumes recommended by Brunet (Brunet V, 1353), i.e. the Table analytique et raisonnée des matières given by Chantreau (Paris, Deterville, 1801. 2 vols.) and the Supplément au recueil des lettres de M. Voltaire (Paris, Xhrouet, 1808. 2 vols.). Founded in 1780 on the initiative of Beaumarchais and Condorcet with the aim of publishing Voltaire's complete works, the Société Littéraire-Typographique was set up in the fort of Kehl to avoid censorship. This enterprise mobilised colossal resources and became the largest printing works in Europe, with warehouses, foundries, printing workshops, five mills and forty presses employing more than 200 people. The venture turned out to be very expensive, even ruinous, costing almost 2,200,000 livres with the purchase of Baskerville's typographic equipment and the Arches paper mills, largely financed by Beaumarchais himself but also by Catherine II of Russia and the King of Prussia, who was the subject of the dedication. Although hampered by censorship, political games and embezzlement of funds and copies, the project nevertheless succeeded and the 70 volumes were placed at the head of the procession when Voltaire's ashes were transferred to the Panthéon in 1791. Moreau's illustration for this monumental work is certainly one of his masterpieces, and "is sustained without fail from one end to the other for nearly a hundred compositions" (Brunet). An exceptional copy in beautiful empire bindings. [Bengesco 2142; Brunet V, 1353; Cohen 614].
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
About the sale Prestige sale - Antiquarian and collectible books
Auction location
Auction time 06/15/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
You may also like