"HIS MOST IMPORTANT EARLY PHILOSOPHICAL WORK… THE FIRST BOMB HURLED AGAINST THE ANCIEN REGIME": FIRST EDITION OF VOLTAIRE'S LETTERS CONCERNING THE ENGLISH NATION, 1733, THE FIRST BOOK TO RELATE THE STORY OF NEWTON AND THE APPLE

VOLTAIRE [Arouet, François-Marie] DE. Letters Concerning the English Nation. London: Printed for C. Davis and A. Lyon, 1733. Octavo, contemporary full brown speckled calf rebacked and recornered, raised bands, red morocco spine label. Housed in a custom clamshell box. $4800.

First edition of Voltaire's commentary on English institutions, published one year before the French first edition, the first published work to relate the tale of Newton's falling apple.

Voltaire ("an approximate anagram of the name Arouet") fled to England in 1726 following arguments in Paris with powerful political figures, "where he remained till early 1729, learning English, reading Shakespeare, Milton and the Restoration dramatists, making the acquaintance of Walpole, Congreve, Gay, Berkeley and associating with Bolingbroke, Pope, and Swift" (Harvey & Heseltine, 753). "Much struck by the admirable English phlegm and toleration of free thought and eccentricity, he wrote the Letters, the most sympathetic of critiques" (PMM 204). "He became an ardent apostle of the science, tolerance and common sense of England. These resulting Letters form his most important early philosophical work. The book has been called the first bomb hurled against the Ancien Régime. In its high praise of English institutions it leaves no doubt that Voltaire is attacking, by ironic contrast, French despotism and the corruption of the French Church. The book created such a scandal that it was soon condemned and copies burned by the hangman in June, 1734. A warrant was issued against Voltaire but he succeeded in escaping."

"This English translation was done by John Lockman from a manuscript prepared by Voltaire himself… Four letters deal directly with Newton and his theories and include, for the first time, the famous anecdote of the falling apple, which gave birth to the law of gravitation" (Babson 242). "In later life, Voltaire neither discards nor regrets the opinions articulated in the Letters. The values and ideas that animate these pages, the vision of man, and not just the Englishman, will remain fundamental to Voltaire" (Leigh, Introduction, Philosophical Letters, xvii). Of specific American interest is Letter IV, concerning William Penn and the founding of Pennsylvania as a haven for Quakers. When published in French in 1734, the work first appeared as Lettres écrits de Londres sur les Anglois; later in the same year it was retitled Lettres philosophiques, the title by which it is generally known. Engraved vignette to title page, engraved ornamental tailpieces. Leaf of publisher's advertisement between Contents and first text leaf. Translated into English by John Lockman. Mahaffey, 129. Sabin 100751. ESTC T137614. Trace of erasure to early owner signature above title page. Penciled owner inscription. Small early inked initial.

Lower corner of front free endpaper (blank) repaired. Text fresh and clean, slight soiling, rubbing to boards. Extremely good in nicely refurbished contemporary calf covers.