Voltaire, François Marie Arouet

Candide, ou l’Optimisme, traduit de l’allemand de Mr. le Docteur Ralph [bound with] Candide, ou l’Otimisme, Seconde Partie [and] Remercîment de Candide à Mr. de Voltaire

Genève (Geneva): Cramer, 1759. First Edition. Hardcover. 3 vols. in 1. 1st edition, 1st printing (in French) of the great 18th century philosophical narrative. The 2 sequels are nice to have but do not really increase value. All the Candide points are correct, the 3 usual cancels, the right title page ornament repeated (pages 193 and 266), the misprints of “que ce ce fut” (page 103 line 4) and “précisément” (page 125 line 4), the correction removing a paragraph break (page 31), the rewritten lines about the Lisbon earthquake (page 41), etc. Contemporary full calf, red calf label, rebacked with the original spine saved and laid down, recornered, marbled endpapers, gilt rubbed, inner paper hinges strengthened, old ink signatures on the endpaper and front blank, tiny signature on the title page, one tissue strengthened tear at the bottom of A2 touching the last 3 lines of text without any loss, otherwise internally quite nice, clean, and very good. Bound without N7 (a blank) and N8 (a notice to the binder) as is usual, agreeing in all respects to what you would have received if you had purchased a copy in sheets, on publication day, then bought the sequels, and then handed them over to the most local Swiss bindery. Ref: Printing and the Mind of Man 204, one of only a dozen or so novels thought worthy of inclusion with their 424 examples of printing’s impact on Western civilization (typical establishment misunderstanding of fiction’s importance). very Good. Item #752

There were 18 editions of Candide in 1759. It took 221 years for a clear and convincing bibliography to, first sort them out, and then got accepted, and once accepted our real 1st edition was confirmed as rare. In the last 15 years however, that bibliographical data has been more widely circulated and several 1st editions, that weren’t on the original 22–copy census, have come into market. It is still scarce, more so in a contemporary binding, and it abides as the epitomic philosophical fable of the French Enlightenment and the genotype of irony without exaggeration, and though it’s laced with more salt than the postwar streets of Carthage, it repeatedly tolls a reminder that, light hearts live long. “Do you believe,” said Candide, “that men have always massacred each other as they do to-day, that they have always been liars, cheats, traitors, ingrates, brigands, idiots, thieves, scoundrels, gluttons, drunkards, misers, envious, ambitious, bloody–minded, calumniators, debauchees, fanatics, hypocrites, and fools?” “Do you believe,” said Martin, “that hawks have always eaten pigeons when they have found them?” –Voltaire, Candide.

Price: $20,000.00