Two bifoliums in Villaume’s hand with additions by Voltaire. The subject matter is in connection with the work that was to become, in 1756, the Essai sur les mœurs.

Incomplete copy of an article almost certainly written for the Encyclopédie, but which was never included in the published work.

The phrase ‘concernant le XVIe siècle en France’ is written in Voltaire’s hand.

There are two items in this assemble that are copied in an unknown hand. The first is vers libertine (44r-44v), and the second is an extract from a Manuscrit Philosophique Clandestin (97r-102r), which Voltaire has titled Extraits de Maillet. T.D. Betserman indicates that this is in the hand of Colligny (p.420), but this is mistaken. Below is the beginning of this text:

Si on prouve par des anachronismes des plus marqués que Moïse n’a point écrit la Genèse, si l’on démontre qu’il n’est point non plus l’auteur de l’Exode, du Lévitique, des Nombres, du Deutéronome, il est sûr qu’on doit moins de foi à des histoires dont on n’a pas d’auteur contemporain. Voilà l’objet et l’idée de la critique de Spinosa, etc.

The manuscript title is written in Voltaire’s hand, the verso features the lines ‘Trop de vers || de Rillet || sur le suicide,’ also penned by Voltaire.

The titular phrase ‘Proscription du comte d’Orange’ is written in Voltaire’s hand.

This manuscript relates to Votaire’s ambitious, yet ultimately unsuccessful project of building a church. His intentions are documented in his correspondence with various individuals, including Chauvelin, Thiriot, Helvetius, Marmontel, Algarotti, and d’Argental.