VOLTAIRE - RARE EO - Recueil nécessaire - 1766

François-Marie Arouet, called VOLTAIRE.

Necessary collection.

1765, at Leipsik.
1 vol. in-8 bound from VIII+-319 pages + Errata. Contemporary full calf marbled binding, smooth spine adorned with compartments, rules, friezes, fleurons, and title, stamped in fine gold, title piece in red morocco.
Fading on the edges, corners, headcaps, and joints, interior in decent condition.

Rare original edition.

Despite the indication on the title page, this collection actually appeared between August and September 1766 in Geneva; it contains: 1) Analysis of Christian Religion; 2) The Savoyard Vicar; 3) Catechism of the Honest Man, or dialogue between a caloyer and a righteous man; 4) Sermon of the Fifty; 5) Important Examination of Bolingbroke; 6) Translation of a Letter from Lord Bolingbroke to Lord Cornbury; 7) Dialogue of the Doubter and the Adorer; 8) The Last Words of Epictetus to His Son; 9) Ideas of La Mothe Le Vayer. These pieces are by Voltaire, except the Analysis, which would (in principle) be by Dumarsais; The Savoyard Vicar is taken from Rousseau's Emile (a passage Voltaire praised for its vehement rejection of religious dogmas) and (perhaps) Bolingbroke's Letter.

Unique edition of this anti-religious screed. (Bengesco, I, no 1899, which lists 318 pages, plus an unpaginated page for the errata).