Essai sur les mœurs et l’esprit des nations
Sous la direction de Bernard Bruno, John Renwick, Nicholas Cronk, Janet Godden
OCV volumes 21-27B
(Forthcoming 2009-2016)
Voltaire’s Essai sur les mœurs et l’esprit des nations is a monumental work which has changed the face of western historiography. Unique for its time, it encompasses in 196 chapters the history of Europe, Africa, America and Asia within the overall concept of a ‘universal history’. Voltaire’s approach to the writing of this history is radical and innovative: rather than recite the deeds of monarchs and religious leaders, his aim is to tell the story of human progress, in particular the progress of human reason.
One of Voltaire’s most important and influential works, it preoccupied him over several decades. He began work on it in the early 1740s, and the first full edition published in 1756 was a best-seller. He continued expanding and revising the work for the rest of his life. This edition will be based on the last version of the text authorised by Voltaire, and will explain the changes he made over a forty-year period.
This edition is the first ever full critical edition. The work of an international team of scholars, it will appear in eight volumes. One volume is published each year, starting with Voltaire’s text (volumes II-VIII) and finishing in 2016 with the General Introduction (volume I). This first critical edition of the Essai sur les mœurs will be of interest to all historians and literary scholars of the European Enlightenment and its modern legacy.
‘Complète, claire, impressionnante. [...] ce premier volume révèle les principes qui guident l’entreprise ainsi que la grande qualité du travail effectué par les éditeurs. [...] Le travail d’annotation est également impressionnant. Sur ce plan, les éditeurs ont assuré un travail de coordination admirable [...], produisant un commentaire qui facilite de beaucoup la lecture de cet ouvrage gigantesque. [...] cette nouvelle édition s’impose désormais comme édition de référence. Tout compte fait, ce premier tome de l’édition n’est pas seulement un début prometteur, c’est un triomphe que doivent saluer tous les “voltairistes”.’
John Iverson, Revue Voltaire 11 (2011)