The Voltaire Foundation is celebrating a remarkable achievement: the publication of the Complete works of Voltaire in 205 volumes. This 55-year project finished in 2022.
To mark this milestone, in March, the well-known Enlightenment historian, Professor Robert Darnton, gave a lecture on Theatricality and Violence in Paris, 1788. Before the lecture the University Vice-Chancellor, Louise Richardson, introduced a short film, Editing Voltaire, about the project.
We were delighted that the British Academy, in recognition of its long-term support, hosted a celebratory event in May. Adam Gopnik spoke on the subject Once, a Philosopher: Voltaire the Liberal, introduced by British Academy fellow Marian Hobson. It was especially fitting that this took place at Carlton House Terrace, London, just a stone’s throw away from Pall Mall, where our founder, Theodore Besterman, held some of the early meetings with the editorial board.
Finally, an academic conference about the newly completed Oxford edition of Voltaire entitled ‘Voltaire 2022 – Œuvres complètes, œuvre ouverte’, was held in Paris in June.
