Voltaire - Oeuvres complètes - 1785

Voltaire, Oeuvres complètes. [Kehl], Imprimerie de la Société littéraire-typographique, 1785-1789; 70
Octavo volumes.

Undoubtedly the most lovely edition ever published of Voltaire's works, known as the Kehl edition, printed and
published thanks to the care of Beaumarchais.

Copies in wonderfully fresh condition, complete in 70 volumes, printed on lovely, very white laid paper,
fully uncropped margins (23x14.5cm).

The magnificent illustration includes two frontispieces, 18 portraits, 14 plates of physics and 93 ( +/-1% )
figures by Jean Michel Moreau, known as Le Jeune, the masterpiece of this artist “which doesn’t
fail, from one end to the other...” (Cohen).

A rare uniform copy, in paperboard bindings, with a Bradel spine embellished with a
red morocco author and volume number label and green morocco title label and adorned with
gilded embossing. Sound and clean volumes, the paper is a little dark on the spine, but nothing serious, some
spots of friction, rubbed crowns and corners, some damaged with small tears. The most notable imperfections:
restoration on the crowns of Volume 44, the back joint is cracked and lacks
on the crowns of Volume 20.

Provenance: Library of Général Baron de Nervo (Château-Thierry, Aisne).

In particular, this edition contains the first edition of the essential letters
by Voltaire, eighteen volumes containing 3329 letters by the patriarch of Ferney himself and 1162
letters by his correspondents.