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Hebrew Printing in Sabbioneta 1 AFFO, Ireneo - Schulz-Falster Rare ...

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ism is displayed with a vigour and wit that carries the reader away. Irony<br />

without exaggeration, a perfect restra<strong>in</strong>t <strong>in</strong> its admirable humour, a gift<br />

for the ‘throw-away l<strong>in</strong>e’ (‘pour encourager les autres’ is a classic example);<br />

all these show Voltaire’s style and orig<strong>in</strong>ality at their <strong>in</strong>comparable best.’<br />

(PMM 204).<br />

The pr<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g history of Candide is a complicated one. The Wrst edition<br />

was published by Cramer and is described under number 299G by Giles<br />

Barber <strong>in</strong> the critical edition of Candide published as volume 48 of the<br />

Complete Works of Voltaire <strong>in</strong> 1980 by the Voltaire Foundation (Taylor<br />

Institution, Oxford). This Wrst edition is very rare <strong>in</strong>deed, with only about<br />

twenty copies recorded. Most of these copies, just like this one, are bound<br />

without the Wnal leaves N7, a blank, and N8, <strong>in</strong>structions to the b<strong>in</strong>der concern<strong>in</strong>g<br />

the cancellation of two pairs of leaves (B4/B9) and D6/9D7). All<br />

the recorded copies so far, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g two recently on the market, have all the<br />

cancels <strong>in</strong> gather<strong>in</strong>gs B and D, with the exception of the copy at the Voltaire<br />

Institute <strong>in</strong> Geneva, which has both these signatures uncancelled.<br />

The present copy is unique <strong>in</strong> that it has the cancels <strong>in</strong> signature B, but<br />

preserves signature D uncancelled. This results <strong>in</strong> the <strong>in</strong>elegant sentence<br />

‘toutes nos Wlles se trouvèrent Presque toutes en un moment’, with its repetition<br />

of ‘toutes’, (p. 84) (to be corrected <strong>in</strong> all later pr<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>gs) and the<br />

use of a diVerent ornament on page 86, not ornament g ‘pot of Xowers’ as<br />

described <strong>in</strong> Barber, but <strong>in</strong>stead ornament d, a mixture of fruit and leaves,<br />

just as the Geneva copy.<br />

Barber 299G; En Français dans le Texte 160; Morize 59a; <strong>Pr<strong>in</strong>t<strong>in</strong>g</strong> and the M<strong>in</strong>d of<br />

Man 204; Wade 1.<br />

A Love of All Th<strong>in</strong>gs English<br />

119 [VOLTAIRE, François Marie Arouet de.] Lettres Ecrites de<br />

Londres sur le Anglois et autres Sujets. Par M. D. V.***. Basle, [i.e.<br />

London, Bowyer], 1734. [Bound with:] Lettre sur les Panegiriques.<br />

Par Irenée Aléthès, Professeur en Droit dans le Canton Suisse d’Uri.<br />

The Hague, Frederic Staatman, 1767. £850<br />

Two works <strong>in</strong> one volume, 8vo, pp. [viii], 228, 19; 15; late eighteenthcentury<br />

red boards, sp<strong>in</strong>e lettered <strong>in</strong> manuscript; head and tail of sp<strong>in</strong>e<br />

chipped and corners lightly bumped, sp<strong>in</strong>e and sides a little faded; a<br />

good copy.<br />

I. First edition <strong>in</strong> French of this fasc<strong>in</strong>at<strong>in</strong>g volume of great philosophical<br />

and scientiWc <strong>in</strong>terest, which was, <strong>in</strong> fact partly written <strong>in</strong> English and Wrst<br />

published <strong>in</strong> English the previous year. It was written by Voltaire as a k<strong>in</strong>d<br />

of testimony of his love of ‘th<strong>in</strong>gs English’, and then subsequently partly<br />

rewritten <strong>in</strong> French for the French editions. Buruma observes that Voltaire<br />

<strong>in</strong>vented a new genre: <strong>in</strong>stead of writ<strong>in</strong>g an ord<strong>in</strong>ary travel book, he approached<br />

his subject as an <strong>in</strong>tellectual traveller and wrote a journey of ideas.<br />

He made no eVort to describe what England looked like, but wanted to<br />

susanne schulz-falster rare books

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