M. de V*** - Recueil de Pièces fugitives en prose et en vers, les Fri-maçons Hyperdrame, Esope au Parnasse - 1740-1740

1/The Collection of Fugitive Prose and Verse is a work by Voltaire, published in 1740 (clandestinely printed in late 1739 in Rouen by Prault). This volume is especially famous in literary history for being immediately condemned and seized by an order of the King's Council as soon as it appeared.

Key elements of the work
Major content: It notably contains fragments of his Essay on Louis XIV's Century, as well as several of his famous Discourses on Man (on liberty, equality of conditions, envy, etc.).

Nature of the texts: The term “fugitive pieces” refers to short writings (epistles, light poetry, philosophical essays, literary critiques) that appeared briefly in gazettes or circulated under the counter.

Censorship: Voltaire’s scathing critique of institutions, religion and politics led to the official ban of the book in France as of December 1739

2/

The FRI-MAÇONS HYPERDRAM
The Fri-Maçons, Hyperdrame is a satirical play written by the Geneva man of letters Pierre Clément (1809-1870), first published in London in 1740. It is one of the very first literary and dramatic works to take Freemasonry as its central theme, then flourishing across Europe.

Summary of the work
Context: In the eighteenth century, Freemasonry aroused immense curiosity, many fantasies and the first waves of anti-Masonry.

Genre: The author uses the original term of “hyperdrama” to designate a form of satirical or exaggerated drama, pushing to the extreme the traits of the characters to mock the rituals and supposed secrets of the Order.
Plot: The play features laypeople seeking to pierce the mysteries of the Masons, while parodying the solemn spirit of lodge meetings of the time.
Historical interest
This work is today sought after by historians of Freemasonry and by collectors of ancient books, as it bears witness to the popular perception — often mockery or intrigue — that the general public had toward this nascent secret society.

3/

ESOPUS AT THE PARnASSUS COMEDY IN ONE ACT IN VERSE
Esopus at the Par­nassus is a one-act comedy in verse by Charles-Étienne Pesselier, first performed on 14 October 1739 by the actors of the Comédie-Française.

The work in brief
Author: Charles-Étienne Pesselier (1712–1763), man of letters, poet, fabulist and French financier.
Format: Short play (one act) written entirely in verse (alexandrines).
Genre: Moral and allegorical comedy.
Publication: Edited at Prault in Paris and B. Gibert in The Hague in 1740.

Context and theme
The play features the mythical figure Aesop, the famous fabulist of Antiquity, carried to Mount Parnassus (the home of the Muses and Apollo). Through this device, Pesselier offers a satire of the literary world and the critique of his era. Esop[e] defends useful, moral and biting poetry, claiming to instruct the public by truth “without insult.”

The gathering of these two texts from 1740 (the masonically hyperdrama of Pierre Clément and Voltaire’s banned pieces) within the same volume of the period raises the value

The Voltaire Effect: Original or period editions of Voltaire, especially when they have endured royal censorship, are highly sought after by bibliophiles.

The thematic coherence of clandestinity: Connecting a satire on Freemasonry (then suspect in the eyes of the authorities) and Voltaire’s banned texts shows that the book’s first eighteenth-century owner consciously collected subversive writings.

A set of rare and precious pieces...

Collection of fugitive pieces in prose and verse
Table of pieces 6 non-digitized pages
Essay on the Century of Louis XIV 223 numbered pages
The Fri-Maçons Hyperdrame 76 numbered pages
Esope at the Par­nasse
Epistle 6 non-digitized pages
Esopus at the Par­nasse 56 numbered pages