Complete Works of Voltaire 46-47

Part of the complete works of the French philosopher, historian and social reformer, Voltaire. This history of Peter the Great paints him as the original enlightened despot, creating a lasting Enlightenment society, succeeded by Voltaire's patron Catherine the Great. For students and scholars of the 18th-century Enlightenment.

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Voltaire's history of Tsar Peter the Great paints him as the original enlightened despot, bringing civilisation to a barbaric empire and creating a lasting Enlightenment society, worthily succeeded by Voltaire's patron Catherine the Great. This two-volume edition takes its text primarily from the last edition that Voltaire personally oversaw, that of 1775. The critical apparatus is both detailed and effective, containing pertinent notes, lengthily comparisons of editions, a glossary and twelve appendices, including Voltaire's letters regarding the work's composition and the critical response it received. This superb edition offers for the first time a chance to assess all of the elements of Voltaire's complicated relationship with the idea of Tsar Peter.