Voltaire - Micromega Zadig - 1785

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VOLTAIRE THE PHILOSOPHY, EXTRA-TERRESTRIALS AND PREHISTORY OF SCIENCE FICTION – 1785
MICROMEGA: THE VOLTAIRE TALE THAT GAVE ITS NAME TO A FAMOUS ITALIAN PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL
Interesting Neapolitan edition of an 18th-century collection of Voltaire’s famous tales and philosophical writings, published in 1785 by G. P. Merande e Comp., “Librai francesi” in Naples. The volume brings together two genuine masterpieces of Voltaire’s philosophic cuento: Micromega and Zadig, accompanied by several other short texts.
A particular note goes to Micromega, one of the most visionary tales of the entire Enlightenment. Through the journey through the universe of a gigantic inhabitant of a planet around the star Sirius, Voltaire uses cosmic dimensions, extraterrestrial worlds and the relativity of perspective to ironize man, his philosophical certainties, and his presumption of being at the center of creation.
The title’s cultural survival has been extraordinary. “Micromega” is also the name chosen in 1986 by Paolo Flores d’Arcais for MicroMega, an important Italian magazine of culture, politics, science and philosophy, which has become one of the most recognizable periodicals in contemporary intellectual debate. The reference to Voltaire’s tale is not accidental: the name precisely evokes the confrontation between the microscopic and the enormously large, the relativity of viewpoints, and the exercise of critical reason.
Zadig beautifully completes the main core of the collection: set in an imagined Babylon, it addresses through adventure and irony universal questions such as fate, justice, happiness, reason and providence.
The 1785 Neapolitan edition also represents a significant testimony to the penetration of French Enlightenment ideas into the Kingdom of Naples in the final years of the Ancien Régime.

WHY TO BUY
* MICROMEGA – Voltaire’s visionary extraterrestrial masterwork, a precursor of philosophical science fiction.
* MICROMEGA TODAY – The title lives on in the famous journal founded by Paolo Flores d’Arcais in 1986.
* TWO MASTERWORKS – Brings together Micromega and Zadig, among the most famous philosophical tales of the Enlightenment.
* NAPLES 1785 – Fascinating testimony to Voltaire’s diffusion in Enlightenment Italy.

MARKET VALUE
An interesting 18th-century Italian edition, enhanced by the joint presence of Micromega and Zadig, by the relatively early date and by the pleasant contemporaneous binding. For a complete copy in the described condition, a rough commercial valuation could be around €450–600.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Half-leather binding of the period with marbled boards; leather spine with title and rich gold-pressed floral motifs; speckled edges. A couple of small wormholes at the lower margin of the spine; minor lesions to the binding and normal signs of use. Internally some foxing and physiological browning, more evident on some pages. Overall a good copy, genuine and kept in its pleasant eighteenth-century binding. Pp. (2); (6); 260; (4); (2).
In old books with a centuries-long history, some imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description.

FULL TITLES & AUTHORS
François-Marie Arouet de Voltaire.
Micromega Zadig and several anecdotes by M. de Voltaire.
Naples, at G. P. Merande e Comp. Librai Francesi, opposite S. Angelo a Nido, 1785.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
Micromégas, published in 1752, occupies a singular position in the history of European literature. The protagonist is a gigantic inhabitant of a planet orbiting Sirius who, accompanied by a Saturnian, travels the universe and finally reaches Earth.
The narrative device allows Voltaire a radical reversal of perspective: observed by beings of cosmic size, humanity appears almost invisible, while its wars, metaphysical disputes and pretensions to absolute knowledge assume grotesque proportions.
The combination of interplanetary travel, extraterrestrial beings, cosmological speculation and philosophical satire makes Micromégas one of the most important 18th-century precursors of modern science fiction storytelling.
The very title constitutes a brilliant synthesis of Voltaire’s method: “micro” and “mega,” infinitely small and immensely large. By changing the scale of observation, the judgment of man also changes.
Therefore it is not surprising that MicroMega was chosen as the name of the magazine founded in 1986 by Paolo Flores d’Arcais, dedicated to cultural, philosophical, scientific and political dialogue. The Voltairean title thus continues to evoke, more than two centuries later, critical reason and the multiplicity of viewpoints.
Zadig, ou la Destinée, appearing in its final form in 1748, constitutes the other great masterpiece in the volume. Through the adventures of the protagonist in an imaginary East, Voltaire tests optimism, fatalism, justice and providence, turning the adventure tale into a philosophical investigation.
The Naples publication in 1785 is particularly significant. The Bourbon capital was one of the major centers of Italian Enlightenment, linked to the intellectual experiences of Antonio Genovesi, Ferdinando Galiani and Gaetano Filangieri. Voltaire’s presence in Italian language testifies concretely to the dialogue between French culture and Southern Enlightenment.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
François-Marie Arouet, universally known as Voltaire (Paris, 1694–1778), was a writer, philosopher, historian and polemicist and one of the central figures of European Enlightenment.
Author of a vast production including theater, poetry, historiography, philosophy, pamphlet and narrative, he transformed irony, paradox and satire into formidable tools for critiquing intolerance, fanaticism and dogmatism.
Works such as Lettres philosophiques, Candide, Zadig, Micromégas, Traité sur la tolérance and Dictionnaire philosophique contributed to the European diffusion of a culture based on critical reason, tolerance and intellectual liberty.
Philosophical tales probably represent the most immediately modern form of his production: beneath the guise of fantastic and Eastern adventures, Voltaire subjects to critique the great political, religious and metaphysical certainties of his time.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
Micromégas appeared in 1752 and quickly enjoyed considerable European popularity. The tale circulated through reprints, collections and translations, also entering the Italian eighteenth-century book market.
Zadig had an earlier publishing history and reached its definitive form in 1748. The pairing of the two texts in Voltairean collections allowed the reader to see two different but complementary forms of the philosophical tale: cosmic travel and the oriental fable.
The Neapolitan edition of 1785 belongs to the phase of intense Italian reception of Voltaire. The editorial note of G. P. Merande e Comp. as “Librai Francesi” is particularly meaningful, testifying to the role of Francophone book networks in the circulation of Enlightenment culture in Bourbon Naples.
The Neapolitan imprimaturs of 1784 also document the work’s passage through the Kingdom’s editorial control system just before publication.
The survival of the name Micromega in contemporary culture constitutes a particularly happy case of intellectual continuity: from Voltaire’s cosmical and philosophical tale to the MicroMega magazine founded in 1986, the term continues to evoke critical comparison of perspectives, scales and ideas.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Voltaire, Micromégas, 1752.
Voltaire, Zadig ou la Destinée, definitive edition, 1748.
Georges Bengesco, Voltaire. Bibliographie de ses œuvres, Paris, 1882–1890.
Bibliothèque nationale de France, catalogs of Voltaire’s works and editions.
Italian bibliographic repertoires of eighteenth-century Voltaire editions.
MicroMega, journal founded by Paolo Flores d’Arcais in 1986, whose title echoes that of the famous Voltairean philosophical tale.
Studies on the reception of French Enlightenment and the circulation of Voltaire’s works in 18th-century Italy.