Histoire de Charles XII, Roi de Suède
Rare edition, unknown to Bengesco, of Voltaire's first historical work.
A precious copy preserved in its green morocco by Simier with the arms of Louise Marie Thérèse d’Artois (1819-1864), granddaughter of King Charles X.
2 volumes in-12, long-grain green morocco, gilt floral roll-tool framing the covers, gilt-stamped coat of arms at the center, spine with raised bands decorated with gilt fillets and fleurons, decorated edges, gilt-tooled inner roll, gilt edges. Binding attributed to Simier.
174 x 95 mm.
Voltaire. History of Charles XII, King of Sweden. New edition, revised, corrected, enlarged with many very interesting details, and printed from the author's manuscript. With historical and critical remarks.
Lyon, Yvernault and Cabin, Booksellers, 1807.
The copy of Louise Marie Thérèse d’Artois, daughter of the Duke of Berry and granddaughter of King Charles X, bound with her coat of arms.
Rare edition, unknown to Bengesco(who only cites the London Stockdale, 1807 edition)of the “first historical work of Voltaire,” adorned with a portrait of King Charles XII.
Brunet, VI, 27681; M. N. Bouillet, Dictionnaire universel, I, p.390.
“Voltaire worked at least five years on this book. After his return from England, he used all possible means to verify the accuracy of the facts he had related through trustworthy testimonies” (Bengesco).
“Voltaire managed to completely renew the subject and make previous works on the topic forgotten. On the one hand, he was able to collect a great number of firsthand documents, in particular the memories of individuals who had known the King of Sweden: the King of Poland, Stanislas Leczinski; former ambassadors: Colbert de Croissy, de Fierville, des Alleurs; gentlemen attached to Charles XII: Poniatowski, Villelongue. He had once met Goertz, the minister of Charles XII, who is so often mentioned in his book; finally, in London, he made the acquaintance of Fabrice, chamberlain of George I of England, who had spent seven years at the Swedish court. His ‘History’ is thus founded on the precise and personal testimonies of contemporaries.”
“With Charles XII, he had cleverly chosen his subject: the attention of all of Europe was aroused by this extraordinary fate; but interest did not fade with fashion: the vitality that still emanates from these pages, which led Condorcet to say that the ‘History of Charles XII’ ‘had nothing fictional but its interest,’ the liveliness and the restrained elegance of the style make this book a work that has not aged; even today it is no less esteemed by historians than by men of letters. At last, it remains the first modern history in our literature, consistent with this new conception already advocated by Fénelon in his Letter to the Academy.”
Precious and beautiful copy preserved in its long-grain green morocco binding made by Simier, bearing the arms of Louise Marie Thérèse d’Artois (1819–1864).
“The third child of Charles Ferdinand d’Artois, Duke of Berry, and Marie Caroline of Bourbon-Sicily, Louise Marie Thérèse d’Artois took the title of Countess of Rosny in 1830 upon the fall of Charles X, her grandfather. She married Ferdinand Charles of Bourbon, who became Duke of Parma in 1849.After the assassination of her husband in 1854, she served as regent of the Duchy of Parma until her son came of age. Driven out by an uprising in 1859, she died in Venice in 1864.” (O. Hermal, pl. 2556).
Provenance: Libraries of Louise Marie Thérèse d’Artois (Coat of arms) and Claude Broquisse, with bookplate; ex-libris handwritten twice “Emilie”.
