Beschreibung:

Title: Candide, ou l'Optimisme, Traduit de l'Allemand de Mr. le Docteur Ralph Author: [Voltaire, François-Marie Arouet] Place: [Geneva] Publisher: [Printed by Gabriel Cramer] Date: 1759 Description: 299, [5] pp. A-M12, N8 [with N6v, N7, and N8v being blank]. With woodcut fleurons on title page and occasionally within. (12mo) 15.6x9.2 cm (6¼x3½"), modern tree sheep, spine tooled in gilt, morocco lettering piece, new endpapers. First Edition. The earliest known printing of one of the most famous clandestine works of the 18th century, with a complex bibliography. As a means of avoiding the opposition of the authorities throughout Europe, Voltaire used multiple printers and sought the most widespread distribution of his work. Because the work contained religious blasphemy and political sedition it was banned and copies seized by the authorities as they appeared. But printers, booksellers, and a public ready for some plain speaking and truth won the day and the work became the modern equivalent of a best-seller, with estimates that the book sold 20,000 to 30,000 copies that first year, and made Voltaire quite wealthy. Within weeks of its appearance, editions had appeared in Paris, London, Amsterdam and Brussels. The number of editions appearing in 1759 have variously been estimated as between 16 and 20. The group of four editions that are a duodecimo and that contain 299 pages are considered the earliest, having been printed from sheets distributed by Cramer. The present example has the following attributes which bibliographers concur reflect the earliest known printing: 299 numbered pages, plus a blank leaf, then a leaf with "Avis au Relieur" on recto; the title ornament repeated at pages 193 and 266; page 103, line 4 with the uncorrected “que ce ce fut” (corrected in later editions to “que ce fut"); page 125, line 4 reads “precisement” (corrected in later editions to "precipitamment”); on page 41, several short sentences about the Lisbon earthquake were rewritten; Voltaire's revisions on page 31 eliminated an unnecessary paragraph break; page 242, without the paragraph critical of the German poets that begins “Candide etait afflige.” For first edition issue points click here For detailed pictures of condition please click here. Lot Amendments Condition: Four leaves, A1 (the title), N3, N6 and N8 are supplied in facsimile; 11 leaves, from A2 to A12, have repairs with Japanese tissue, most with heavy loss of text; occasional fairly minor dampstains and soil marks; leaf N7, a blank, has a neatly repaired tear; just in good condition, but a very rare item. Item number: 280374