Voltaire, Candide, [Paris], 1759, later calf, with an autograph letter by Voltaire dated 1756

[François Marie Arouet de Voltaire]

Candide, ou l'optimisme. Traduit de l'allemand de Mr. le docteur Ralph. [Paris: Lambert], 1759

12mo (178 x 106mm.), 237, [3]pp., A-K¹², paper watermarked with a bunch of grapes lettered "D[heart]Tamizier" [similar to Heawood 2388 etc], later smooth tan calf, gilt fillet borders, spine gilt in compartments, top edge gilt, others UNCUT, AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED ("Voltaire") tipped in at front of volume [watermark HR], 3pp., dated Les Délices de Geneve, 27 March 1756, extracts from old sale catalogues pasted to front and rear flyleaves, small engraved portrait of Voltaire pasted to front flyleaf, light damp-staining in gutter of last few leaves, autograph letter with a few small tears along creases and a repair on verso

Voltaire's Candide was first printed in Geneva by Cramer on 15 January 1759, on which day 1,000 copies were sent to Paris, and it was quickly reprinted elsewhere; at least 17 editions have been listed with this date of publication. The reprints with 237 numbered pages are usually associated with a Parisian printing, which is borne out here by a paper stock often found in Parisian imprints.

The letter by Voltaire is addressed to Madame [Marie Sophie de La Tour d'Auvergne, princesse de Beauvau-Craon, 1729-1763], mentioning the death of one of her friends which kept Voltaire from her court, and talking of one of his works [Poème sur la religion naturelle], which is not yet ready to see the light of day, though the Margravine of Bayreuth sent him a copy which had been printed "d'une maniere tres fautive".

The letter was sold in the 1920s with an English biography of Voltaire, and has been subsequently inserted into this copy of Candide.

LITERATURE

Bengesco 1437; Electronic Enlightenment database, letter D6805 (location unrecorded, but giving provenance as A. Brun and baron de T.); Giles Barber, "Modele genevoise, mode européene: le cas de Candide et de ses contrefaçons", Studies in the history of printing 9 (1994), 56-74

PROVENANCE

Letter: [A. Brun, sale, Lyon, 24 April 1884, no.738; baron de T., sale, Paris, 23 May 1885, no.191]; sale, Hodgson's, 10 May 1922, lot 473; Tregaskis, catalogue 934 (1927), no.526 (extract pasted to inside front cover)

Book: Einar Christiansen, EC bookplate