(Collection) Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet), Oeuvres Completes. Société Littéraire Typographique, 1785. 12mo (5 by 7 3/8 inches), full speckled calf, gilt decorated spines in 6 compartments and 5 raised bands.

Early edition, of a massive collection of works by Voltaire, some collections by this publisher, from 1784 and 1785, consist of 70 to 92 total volumes. Condition ranges from fair to good, some have the spine peeling off, while others have all the compartments intact, with the gilt in good shape. All boards are attached on all volumes, with some weakening of the hinges in a few. Insides in good shape.

Date Acquired: 3/25/14

This was my first major book purchase online, and I purchased 8 books. So I was taking a gamble from the very beginning, there were pictures available for each of the volumes, but only the spine and cover, no clue on anything else.

The reason why I chose these books, sadly I cannot read them since they are in French, but one day I will, was because of another book I was reading. It was “The Man in the Iron Mask” by Dumas, but not the D’Artagnan Romances (which include “The Three Musketeers”), this was the novel from his Celebrated Crimes, in which it is an essay on the history of the Iron Mask itself. One of the sources that Dumas used was the 20th Volume of the complete works of Voltaite! I searched it and see if I could research it more, and right there is was available to purchase, along with seven more.

There are a lot of books in the complete set of volumes, and I wish I could have them all, but alas. I cannot.

As I mentioned, the condition varies, but they are all holding on their own, and are not falling apart. The bindings on the 28th and 33rd volume are in great shape, all of the gilt is still there, along with the titles and numbers of the volumes, which I am very happy about. The speckled calf on most of the volumes is a bit worn, and rubbed, and chipped in places, but those are minor things compared to the whole. These aren’t in absolutely fantastic shape, but they aren’t bad at all.

As I stated in an earlier post, these were for quite some time, the oldest books I had in my collection, they are not anymore. What also drew me to these was the age, as I was looking them up I came across many newer printings, in paperback, and all the boring things. I then stumbled across these, and saw the date. My oldest book at that time was a 1st edition account of the Union/Secessionist struggle in Tennessee printed in 1861 by W.G. Brownlow (I’ll cover that book too, it is on loan to Gemma’s dad).

I was amazed at the age, nothing I’ve ever owned had been that old, needless to say, these books gave me the collecting bug, and I haven’t stopped since. Darn.

Before, all of my books the pages have been thin paper, but as soon as I opened these up I was falling in love with everything. The material of the pages, the calf skin binding, the gilt spines, everything. These were my first of all of those categories, it was wonderful.

Like I said, sadly I cannot read these books, I don’t know any French, at all. On the other hand, they sure are very pretty to look at and who knows, maybe they’ll be worth more in 100 years when I pass these down.