Catalogue Number 7 - Susanne Schulz-Falster

85 VOLTAIRE, François Marie Arouet de. Micromégas de Mr.
de Voltaire. Avec une Histoire des Croisades & un Nouveau Plan de
l’Histoire de l’Esprit Humain. . . A Berlin, [i.e. Leyden, Luzac],
1753. £850
8vo, pp. [ii], 254; uncut in later marbled wrappers; title page a little
spotted, dust-soiled and creased.
First Dutch edition of Voltaire’s philosophical and utopian tale Micromegas,
Wrst published in 1752 as part of a collected edition, and reprinted a number
of times in 1752.
In the style of Gulliver’s Travels, Voltaire’s tale exposes human pretentions
by looking at them from the outside. The title character is a giant from
the planet Sirius who, accompanied by a slightly smaller but still enormous
companion from Saturn, visits Earth to investigate it and its inhabitants.
When they Wrst arrive, the Earth appears void of any inhabitants; only the
use of a magnifying diamond allows them to see some humans, who appear
microscopic. Micromegas is shocked and surprised by the folly and cruelty
of humanity, but impressed by their scientiWc advances.
The two other works, the essay on the crusades and the ‘new plan’, had
both Wrst appeared in periodicals, and were to be incorporated in Voltaire’s
major historical work Essai sur les Moeurs.
Bengesco I 1429 note, 1162 note; see D. W. Smith, The publication of Micromégas,
in Studies on Voltaire and the eighteenth century, 219, 1983, pp 63–87.
Voltaire’s Autobiography
86 [VOLTAIRE, François Marie Arouet de]. Commentaire
Historique sur les Oeuvres de l’Auteur de la Henriade, &c. Avec les
Pièces originales & les preuves. Basle [Geneva], Paul Duker, 1776.
£500
8vo, pp. iv, 282, title vignette and numerous little vignettes in the text;
attractively bound in full mottled calf, spine decoratively gilt, giltlettered
spine label, joints expertly repaired.
First edition of this disguised autobiography of Voltaire, followed by a selection
of his letters. Voltaire wrote about himself in the third person and
had the work published anonymously; nevertheless the book gives a detailed
and lively account of the main periods of his literary career, full of
telling observations and anecdotes. Voltaire’s letters to a variety of correspondents
cover scientiWc, political and philosophical subjects.
This work has often been attributed to Voltaire’s secretary Jean Louis
Wagnière, but Besterman has argued that Voltaire wrote it himself: ‘It was
almost certainly written by his own hand 1776 or 1775/6, or at least dictated
by him: his style is unmistakable’.
Bengesco 1862; Cioranescu 64527.
The Wine-Makers’ Guide
susanne schulz-falster rare books catalogue seven
87 [WINE.] Vollkommener Unterricht vor Kellermeister, wie
nicht alleine mit dem Weine vom Anfange der Weinlese umzugehen,
sondern auch die älteren wohl zu erhalten, denen hinfälligen zu
helVen, auch allerhand anzustellen sind. Desgleichen auch wie der
Meth gesotten, allerhand angenehme Brandtweine anzusetzen, und
wie auf vielerley Arten der Essig zu machen sey. Absonderlich ist
beygefügt eine accurate Keller-Ordnung, wie solche an vielen Fürstl.
Höfen in steter Observanz ist, mit vielen Kunststücken und
WissenschaVten, verschiedene Gesundheitsweine anzustellen,
versehen. Wie auch vom Bier, und was dabey zu thun, wie solches
von der Säure und andern Anstössen auf unterschiedliche Art
erhalten werden kann. Delitzsch und Leipzig, bey Johann Heinrich
Schmidt, 1779. £1750
8vo, pp. frontispiece, 205; spotting and browning throughout, due to
paper quality; engraved head- and tail-pieces; contemporary thin
wooden boards, covered with pale blue paper, extremities a little
rubbed, discreet repair to foot of spine; a good copy.