Voltaire - L’Empire de Russie sous Pierre Le Grand - 1759

The Russian Empire Enters European History: Peter the Great According to Voltaire
The 1759 edition of Histoire de l’empire de Russie sous Pierre Le Grand takes center stage in Voltaire’s historiographical and political project, which aims to interpret history as a tool for reading modernity. The work builds the figure of Peter the Great as an exemplary reforming sovereign, capable of transforming an empire perceived as marginal and semi-Eastern into a modern European power. More than a simple chronological narrative, the text offers a rational and comparative vision of history, in line with the Enlightenment ideal of progress, order, and reform.
MARKET VALUE
In the European antique market, the complete eighteenth‑century two‑volume editions of Histoire de l’empire de Russie sous Pierre le Grand, attributed to Voltaire, generally fall within a value range of 500 to 1,000 euros. The presence of a contemporaneous, uniform basane binding with gilt decorations and titles on the spine, together with well‑preserved marbled edges, tends to place the specimen in the mid‑to‑upper part of this bracket, especially when the volumes are homogeneous and complete.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Two volumes. Copies in contemporary binding in bazana, spines with decorative tooling and gilt titles; marbled edges. Pages with some foxing and browning. In antique books, with a centuries-long history, some imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. pp. (2); 40; 302; (4). (4); 4nn; 16; 318; (4).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
History of the Russian Empire under Peter the Great.
S.L., 1759.
Voltaire.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
With this work Voltaire ideally completes the political diptych inaugurated with the History of Charles XII, pairing the figure of the warrior sovereign with that of the enlightened reformer. Peter the Great is presented as a model of rational governance, capable of imposing progress through the force of the State and of the law. Russia thus enters the European historical discourse not as exotic otherness, but as a political laboratory of modernity. The text fully reflects Voltaire's vision of history as moral judgment and as a tool of civil education.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
Published in the second half of the 18th century, The History of the Empire of Russia enjoyed wide European diffusion, becoming one of the reference texts for Western knowledge of Petrine Russia. The 1759 edition ranks among the most appreciated print runs and circulated widely in diplomatic, academic, and aristocratic circles, often in contemporary high-quality bindings.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
ICCU/OPAC SBN and major international bibliographic catalogs for the eighteenth-century editions of Histoire de l’empire de Russie sous Pierre Le Grand. Brunet, Manuel du libraire et de l’amateur de livres, under the entry Voltaire. Gay, Bibliographie des ouvrages relatifs à l’histoire de la Russie. Critical studies on Voltairian historiography and the Enlightenment reception of Peter the Great.