Draft of Chapter CXLVIII from l’Essai sur les mœurs
Identifiers
CMV:
CMV36048
Repository:
Shelfmark:
Voltaire Library, 5-240 (VIII, f.18-19), ‘Minute du chapitre CXLVIII de l’Essai sur les mœurs’
Title:
Draft of Chapter CXLVIII from l’Essai sur les mœurs
Collection(s):
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OCLC Number:
Reproductions:
Content
People:
Incipit Diplomatic:
Cortez ayant soumis à Charles-Quint plus de deux cents lieues de nouvelles terres en longueur, et plus de cent cinquante en largeur croyait avoir peu fait.
Incipit Modernised:
Cortez ayant soumis à Charles-Quint plus de deux cents lieues de nouvelles terres en longueur, et plus de cent cinquante en largeur croyait avoir peu fait.
Language(s):
In Own Hand:
Yes
Brief Summary:
The manuscript is an autograph draft of Chapter CXLVIII from l’Essai sur les mœurs, written in Voltaire’s hand.
Detailed Summary:
In this chapter, Voltaire discusses the conquest of Peru, offering reflections on the Inca Civilisation and the South American Indians. He references Garcilasso de la Vega, the renowned Spanish chronicler, who authored a history of the Incas in 1608. Voltaire explores Peruvian customs, traditions, religion, architecture and scientific achievements, such as their understanding of solstices and equinoxes. The chapter then turns to the attacks on the Inca empire, the ransom paid by the Peruvians to their Spanish colonisers, the establishment of governmental institutions in Peru modelled after those in Spain, and the discussion of the country’s natural resources and its people.
Genre(s):
Physical Description
Material(s):
Extent:
2 ff.
Format:
Dimensions:
Hands:
1
Watermark:
Countermark:
Binding:
The manuscript is bound with other documents in contemporary red morocco.
Additional Comments:
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History
Date:
c.1756
Ownership:
After Voltaire’s death, the MS passed into the ownership of Catherine II and remained in the imperial and then national collection thereafter.
Origin (transcript):
[Geneva]
Origin:
Provenance:
This MS was probably taken to St Petersburg by Wagnière in the summer of 1779 along with the rest of Voltaire’s library.
Bibliography
Bibliography:
Fernand Caussy, Inventaire des manuscrits de la bibliothèque de Voltaire conservée à la bibliothèque impériale publique de Saint-Pétersbourg (Geneva, Slatkine reprints, 1970), p.38.
OCV Reference:
26A, p.233-245
OCV Manuscript Reference:
26A, ‘MSL’, p.xxv-xxvi