Official approval of the MS has been recorded on p.107 in a note reading: ‘Lu et aprouvé les changemens. A Paris le 8 juin 1779. Suard. Vue l’aprobation, Permis de representer et d’imprimer ce 9 juin 1779. Lenoir.’

The MS consists of five fascicules bound together and was submitted to the censor, Crébillon by the comédiens in 1761. His official approval is noted on the verso of the final leaf: ‘Jay lu par ordre de Monsieur le Lieutenant Général de Police l’Ecueil du Sage et je crois que l’on peut en permettre la représentation. Ce 26 9bre 1761. Crébillon. Vû L’aprobation Permis de representer ce 28 9bre 1761. de Sartine.’

The text of this MS is close to the clandestine editions of the text produced in 1784. Marginal notes restore the text to the original version (CMV37555). The MS is part of a bound collection known to have been used by the Kehl editors.

The MS is bound with three other texts by Voltaire which once formed part of the Boissy d’Anglas album. These texts are:

• (a) a letter in verse to Algarotti and a letter to the comte d’Argental
• (b) Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne
• (c) Bababec et les fakirs / Lettre d’un Turc.

The collection contains poetry by:

• Jules Michelet
• Jean-François de La Harpe
• Voltaire
• Philippe Quinault
• Jean-Baptiste Rousseau
• Jacques Delille
• Casimir V
• Classical Latin poets

Voltaire acquired this manuscript from the chevalier de Maudave in 1760 and presented it to the Bibliothèque de roi (now the Bibliothèque nationale de France) in August 1761. The text is a commentary on the Vedas, though rather than being a precious authentic text as Voltaire imagined, it was composed by Jesuits in Pondicherry. He inscribed a title page (f.iir) outlining what he knew and believed about the manuscript and its history.

The text dates to 1759, with Voltaire adding to the manuscript in 1761.

This volume contains four items:

• f.[i] Notice sur le Zozur Bedo et sur sa traduction par Mr Court de Gebelin
• f.[ii] Title page in Voltaire’s hand: ‘L’Ezour-védam ou ancien commentaire du védam traduit de la langue du hanscrit par un Brame de Bénares correspondant de la compagnie des indes […]. This appears to have been written on a pre-existing blank page.
• f.1-29 [The commentary]
• f.30-33 Suite du Zozur Bedo

In the spring of 1739, Voltaire dedicated La Henriade to Frederick II of Prussia and that summer Frederick penned this foreword. Following their disagreement, however, Voltaire decided to remove the dedication to Frederick and his foreword was not taken to print. It would remain unpublished for seventeen years. In 1746, Marmontel published two fragments of the foreword that would later be corrected and modified several times, including by Voltaire.