VOLTAIRE. - Lot 53

VOLTAIRE. Élémens de la philosophie de Neuton, Mis à la portée de tout le monde. Amsterdam : Étienne Ledet et compagnie, 1738. -In-8, speckled basane, ornate ribbed spine, red edges (binding circa 1765). First edition of this essential work, which truly introduced Newton's thought to France for the first time. Voltaire composed it with the help of his mistress Émilie Du Châtelet (1706-1749), to whom the edition is dedicated: "Ce n'est ici pas une Marquise, ni une Philosophie imaginaire. The solid study you have made of several new truths & the fruit of a respectable work, are what I offer to the public for your glory..." (epistle). This edition, published by Ledet in association with Jacques Desbordes, was printed and published without the authorization of the author, who had decided to abandon the project following the rejection of his privilege in January 1738, and after much harassment. Ledet was in possession of part of Voltaire's manuscript, which Voltaire had given him; anxious not to lose the money already invested, and aware of a Parisian publishing project, he had a local mathematician compose four chapters to complete the text, and published the work as is in March 1738. The edition is illustrated with a frontispiece engraved by Jacob Folkema (1692-1767) after Louis-Fabricius Dubourg (1693-1775) (bound here at the head of the epistle), a portrait of the author by Folkema (bound here opposite the title), and vignettes and culs-de-lampe engraved by Folkema, François Morellon de La Cave (1696-1768), Bernard Picart (1673-1733) and Jacob Van der Schley (1715-1779), numerous copper-engraved geometric figures in the text and 7 plates, including a fold-out "Table des couleurs & des tons de la Musique". Copy enriched with : - FUGITIVE PIECES OF LITERATURE : pages 199 to 336 from an edition of Voltaire's works, containing "Remarques sur l'histoire", "Nouvelles considérations sur l'histoire", "Discours sur la fable", "Lettre à monsieur Norberg", "Courte réponse aux longs discours d'un docteur allemand", "Relation touchant un maure blanc", "Lettre sur l'esprit", "Discours sur le fanatisme", "Discours sur le déisme", "Discours sur les contradictions de ce monde", "Discours sur ce qu'on ne fait pas, et sur ce qu'on pourroit faire", "Lettre sur les inconvéniens attachés à la Littérature", "Fragment d'une lettre au même Sur la Corruption du Stile", "Conseils à un journaliste", "De la mort d'Henri IV", and "Lettre sur messieurs Jean Law, Melon, et Dutot". - " LETTER FROM M. DE VOL..... TO M. D'AM...... S.l. : [Damilaville, 1765]. 16 pp. Very rare first edition of Voltaire's letter to Damilaville on the Calas affair. Damilaville himself published it shortly after receiving it. - DOUTES NOUVEAUX SUR LE TESTAMENT ATTRIBUÉ AU CARDINAL DE RICHELIEU Geneva, Paris: Duchesne, 1765. First published, as indicated by Bengesco (II, 1706), in November 1764. It comprises 71 pages. Epidermal and worm damage to boards, head cover and part of first box missing, corners dulled. Scattered foxing and some traces of dampstaining. Leaf A1 of the first volume partly detached.