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pair of antique book cases with red and gold paint on theman open book sitting on top of a table next to a cup of coffeean old book with writing on it sitting on top of a tablean open book that is sitting on a tabletwo books that are sitting next to each other on a table
Hôtel des Ventes de Metz - Martin et Associés

54 - [`VOLTAIRE] - [BIG (L'abbé (pseudonym of Voltaire)] - Histor…
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Description
[`VOLTAIRE] - [BIG (L'abbé (pseudonym of Voltaire)] - History of the Parliament of Paris. Amsterdam, published by Jean-Jacques du Fay, 1769; 8vo, VIII-235 + VIII-235 pp., contemporary full marbled calf bindings, smooth, decorated spines, painted edges, fillets on the covers. Both volumes. Second edition, partly original, published in the same year as the first edition. A very fine copy. A very freely adapted text by Voltaire, so freely adapted that he denied authorship. He wrote to his friend Argental: ‘As for the history you mention… It is impossible that I should be the author; it can only be the work of a man who has spent two years on end rummaging through dusty archives.’ François-Marie Arouet, known as Voltaire, an 18th-century philosopher and man of letters, a symbol of the Enlightenment, single-handedly embodied the committed intellectual and the power of public opinion. Educated by the Jesuits, Voltaire distinguished himself in rhetoric and through his skill as a poet. Very early on, he rebelled against this upbringing and turned towards the society of libertines; he shone in the salons, even joking about the relationship between the Regent and his daughter, which earned him 11 months in the Bastille. Very quickly, Voltaire achieved literary success with *La Henriade*. Following the Rohan-Chabot affair, he was imprisoned in the Bastille once more, but was soon released on condition that he went into exile. Voltaire then left for England, met Émilie Du Châtelet and was received at the court of Lunéville. After returning to Paris, he soon left the city to visit Frederick II in Berlin, before settling in Ferney near Geneva. Few writers were as prolific as Voltaire. Quérard I 530, Barbier II, 786.
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About the sale ONLINE AUCTION ON 26/06/2026: Books, engravings and old papers.
Auction location
Auction time 06/26/2026 at 8:00 PM
ID: 87707623
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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