Contemporary copy of ‘Diatribe du Docteur Akakia, médicin du Pape’, with an autograph annotation by Voltaire, 1752

Identifiers

CMV:

CMV37531

Repository:

Shelfmark:

Bentinck 0613, 3.1.3.2 (3477), ‘Diatribe du docteur Acacia , papist’s doctor and other written expressions of Voltaire, directed against the cosmological and (natural) scientific views of Maupertuis, 1752 and n.d. 1 folder N.B. The aforementioned pamphlet was burned on the authority of Frederick the Great and eventually led to Voltaire’s banishment from the Prussian court.’

Title:

Contemporary copy of ‘Diatribe du Docteur Akakia, médicin du Pape’, with an autograph annotation by Voltaire, 1752

Collection(s):

Related record(s):

No related manuscripts found.

Link to Digital Resource:

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Link to Archive Catalogue:

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OCLC Number:

Reproductions:

Content

People:

Voltaire: Author, Annotator

Unknown: Copyist

Cosimo Alessandro Collini: Secretary

Incipit Diplomatic:

Rien n’est plus commun aujourdhuy que de jeunes Auteurs ignorés

Incipit Modernised:

Rien n’est plus commun aujourd’hui que de jeunes auteurs ignorés

Language(s):

French, German

In Voltaire’s Hand:

Brief Summary:

Contemporary copy of Diatribe du Docteur Akakia, médicin du Pape, 1752.

Detailed Summary:

The MS is divided into the following sections:

‘Diatribe du Docteur Akakia, médecin du Pape: décret de l’Inquisition; et rapport des professeurs de Rome au sujet d’un prétendu Président. Rome 1753.’
‘Berlin du 16eme Decembre 1752’
‘Decret de l’Inquisition de Rome’
‘Augement des Professeurs du Collége de la Sapience’
‘Mémoire’, written in the hand of Collini with an autograph correction by Voltaire
‘Reponse de Mr de Voltaire à Mr de Maupertuis’
‘Avertisement qui a paru dans les gazettes litteraires et ordinaires de Leipzig’

Keyword(s):

Author, Berlin, Medicine, Papacy, Peace, Philosophy, Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis, Rome

Genre(s):

Edict, Memoir, Pamphlet, Satire

Status:

Copy (Contemporary)

Physical Description

Material(s):

Ink on paper

Extent:

36 pp.

Format:

4to, Folio

Dimensions:

Hands:

Watermark:

Countermark:

Binding:

The MS is contained in paper covers endorsed as ‘No 2 / Diatribe du Docteur AKAKIA Médecin du Pape d’Elect de l’Inquisition’.

Additional Comments:

The MS has been folded in half horizontally.

Materiality Keywords:

Additional Folds

Decorations:

Undecorated

Additions:

There are several minor corrections throughout in the form of crossings out and select words and phrases have also been underlined throughout. Footnotes have been added to most of the sections to provide bibliographical references. These are linked to the main text through the use of corresponding symbols. Voltaire has added an annotation to the third page of the ‘Mémoire’ reading: ‘ridicules’.

Marginalia Keywords:

Annotation, Correction, Footnote, Underlining

Inclusions:

History

Date:

1752-1753

Ownership:

Origin (transcript):

Origin:

Provenance:

Part of a collection assembled by Wilhelmina Marie von Hessen-Homburg and supplemented by her daughter Charlotte Sophie von Aldenburg.

Bibliography

Bibliography:

OCV Reference:

vol.32C, p.1-241

OCV Manuscript Reference:

vol.32C, p.98-99, ‘MS2-MS4’

Record created by:

Zoe Screti

Record created on:

13 October 2025