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.

A book of reading notes on historical subjects, mainly in the hands of Voltaire, Collini and Villaume. There is a note in an unknown hand on f.58r. Wagnière has jotted at the start of the notebook (at the top of f.1r): ‘ce cahier contient 58 feuillets écrits, soit 116 pages’, then, heavily crossed out: ‘je prie qu’on en ait soin, n’aiant pout de double étant obligé de rendre l’original. le […] peut écrire à messieurs les rédacteurs ils pourront me l’envoier pour le copier’. The final leaf contains a list of errata for the work that was to become l’Essai sur les mœurs.

The notes were produced by an unknown transcriber and are undated.

The note, in Voltaire’s hand, is corrected throughout. The anecdote relates to Chapter 18 of the Siècle de Louis XIV (see OCV, vol.13B, p.105-107 and notes).

The first entry is dated 12 June 1734, whilst later entries are dated April 1736. Jamet, possibly Pierre-Charles Jamet, appears to have been using the Amsterdam edition of the text published by Lucas in 1734.

The notes provide some statistics on Europe, before turning to anecdotes concerning, amongst others, Cardinal Mazarin and the Duke of Buckingham.

The notes concern European vital statistics and are followed by anecdotes about individuals including Cardinal Mazarin and the Duke of Buckingham.

Part of a dossier concerning the trial of Jean François Lefèvre, chevalier de La Barre, mostly documents for the defence prepared by or for Voltaire’s great nephew, Alexandre Marie François de Paule de Dompierre d’Hornoy.