Voltaire's library
The Voltaire library ( Russian Библиотека Вольтера , Biblioteka Woltera ) in the Russian National Library (formerly the Saltykov Shchedrin library) on Nevsky Prospect in Saint Petersburg was the personal library of the French philosopher Voltaire (1694–1778) of the Enlightenment .
history
Voltaire's library is considered to be one of the most remarkable book collections of the 18th century . The library, containing 6,814 volumes, was bought in 1778 by the Russian Empress Catherine II from Voltaire's niece and heiress Marie Louise Mignot (1712–1790). In 1779 it was brought to St. Petersburg by ship and set up under the supervision of Jean-Louis Wagnière , who was his secretary from 1756 until Voltaire's death in 1778. It was originally in the Hermitage , i. H. the private imperial library founded by Catherine II. Under Tsar Nicholas I , access to it was closed or it was only accessible with the Tsar's permission. The Russian poet Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837), for example, was admitted to her for his story of Peter the Great . In 1861 Voltaire's library was transferred to the Imperial Public Library on behalf of Alexander II .
2000 of the volumes contain handwritten notes or other traces of reading by the philosopher: "substantive marginal notes, polemical notes, highlights, bookmarks and pieces of paper on which thoughts, critical comments and plans are noted".
Voltaire's notes have recently been scientifically developed and published by the Ministry of Culture of the RSFSR and the Michael Saltykov Shchedrin Public Library in Leningrad (St. Petersburg).
The German academy publisher has so far (2016) published the first five volumes of this corpus of the marginal notes by Voltaire. The entire work, the Corpus des notes marginales de Voltaire / Corpus of Voltaire's marginalia , is dimensioned in eight volumes.
Web links
- La Bibliothèque de Voltaire (French)