VOLTAIRE - RARE EO - Recueil nécessaire - 1765

François-Marie Arouet, known as VOLTAIRE.

Necessary collection.

1765, in Leipzig.
1 vol. in-8 bound, with VIII+-319 pages + Errata. The binding of the period in full purple calf, spine with five raised bands ornamented with compartments, fillets, friezes, fleurons, and the title, stamped in fine gold, title piece in caramel calf, red edges.
Slight rubbing on the edges, corners, head and tail, and joints; interior in good condition.

Rare original edition.

Illustrated ex-libris by Jacques Laget.

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 good man; 4) Sermon of the Fifty; 5) Important examination of Bolingbroke; 6) Translation of a letter from Lord Bolingbroke to Lord Cornsbury; 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 excerpted from Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Emile (a passage Voltaire praised for its vehement rejection of religious dogma) and (perhaps) the Letter of Bolingbroke.

Unique edition of this anti-religious pamphlet. (Bengesco, I, no. 1899, which indicates 318 pages, plus a non-numbered page for the errata).