Scottish Henriade
VOLTAIRE, François Marie Arouet de.
La Henriade, en dix chants; avec l’histoire abrégée des évènemens sur lesquels est fondée la fable du poème. Edinburgh, J. Watson, 1798.
8vo in 4s, pp. [4], 147, [1 (blank)]; light browning to edges of first and final few leaves, the odd minor spot; else a very good copy in contemporary British tree calf, burgundy morocco lettering-piece with title in gilt; extremities rubbed, front joint cracked but sound; early Scottish ownership inscriptions ‘Catherine Rannie 1805’ and ‘Miss Swintons’ to front free endpaper.
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La Henriade, en dix chants; avec l’histoire abrégée des évènemens sur lesquels est fondée la fable du poème.
Rare Edinburgh edition of Voltaire’s epic poem on toleration and fanaticism.
First published in 1723 as La Ligue ou Henri le Grand, the work is a paean to Henri IV of France and his victory at the Battle of Ivry – and not least to the king’s opposition to religious tyranny and persecution. In it ‘an undivided and unchallenged sovereignty is sketched in glowing colors. Horatio Walpole recommended the Henriade to Bubb Dodington for its “bold strokes … against persecution and the priests,” while others denounced it for spreading sedition and impiety’ (Gay, p. 99). It remained Voltaire’s most celebrated work throughout his life – and indeed after his death in 1778, both in France and abroad, as attested by the present rare Scottish imprint.
ESTC T196072, listing two copies (NLS, Taylorian), to which Library Hub adds the British Library and Leeds University only. Not in Bengesco.