Romans et Contes
The famous edition of Voltaire's Novels and Tales illustrated by Monnet. The copy of Count Szaniecki bound in contemporary morocco.
3 volumes in-8, red morocco, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, smooth spine with decoration, title and volume labels in green morocco, gilt fillet on board edges, gilt decorative roll on turn-ins, blue paper endpapers and doublures, gilt edges. Contemporary binding.
211 x 126 mm.
Voltaire. Novels and Tales of M. Voltaire.
Bouillon, at the expense of the Société Typographique, 1778.
The first of the great editions of Voltaire's Novels and Tales, the most beautiful, the first illustrated, and the first cited by Cohen.
It contains, among others, Zadig, The Princess of Babylon, Micromegas, Candide, The Heron or the Ingenuous One, The Man with Forty Crowns, The Arabian and Indian Tales, and is adorned with 57 engravings by Monnet, Marillier, Martini, and Moreau, 13 vignettes by Monnet, 1 fleuron on the titles, and 1 portrait of Voltaire engraved by Cathelin after La Tour.
Monnet's work, the most important and successful of this period, is the illustration of 52 drawings for Voltaire's Novels and Tales (1778), which were extremely popular at the time.
"He brought invention and cheerfulness to these small pictures, and he was able to express himself freely in the numerous risqué subjects at which he particularly excelled. Some of those in 'Zadig', the charming drawings of 'Candide', especially the one where Candide meets two women chased by monkeys, the 'Huron in Love', and finally 'Jenni' where Dona Boca-Vermeja receives the whip from the reverend father, are among the most delightful and successful." (Baron Roger Portalis. The Illustration Artists of the 18th Century).
"Voltaire experienced Father Bourdaloue, and he reviewed the first book by Marat. By his art as by his thought, he belongs to the past as much as he foretells the future.
The immense work he left remains, despite its unevenness, the testimony of a mind always alert. In this style trembling with life, we like to feel the presence of an intelligence admirably lucid and cultured. To a humanity so different from the one for which he wrote, he continues to teach not to be fooled, not to mistake as essential truths what is only falsehood, imposture, illusion of the heart, or routine of thought."
Collectors compete for fine copies of Voltaire's Novels and Tales when they are preserved in their original morocco bindings; it is known that they are very rare in this condition, and Cohen (1039) cites only a single copy bound in old morocco among the thirteen mentioned.
Precious copy, large margins (height 211 mm), from the library of Count Szanieckisold for 29,000 F (≈ €4,400) in 1974 (Ref. June 7, 1974, no. 139), at a time when one could obtain classic bibliophile books starting from 100 F (≈ €15).
