Voltaire Foundation

Voltaire Foundation

The Voltaire Foundation (Vf) is a literary foundation that has been part of the renowned University of Oxford since the 1970s . It is considered to be the world's leading study and research center on literature of the 18th century, i.e. the Age of Enlightenment . Her tasks include, above all, the edition of the first truly complete historical-critical print edition of Voltaire's complete works , the Œuvres complètes de Voltaire (OCV) . In 1968 Theodore Besterman initiated this monumental publishing project with his band OCV 81: (Voltaire's) Notebooks 1 . A total of 220 volumes are now planned. The complete edition should be completed by the end of 2018.

At the same time, the creation of a permanent digital Voltaire edition is in progress.

Furthermore, the Vf is managing the publication of the humanities monograph series Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century (SVEC) under the new title: Oxford University , begun in 1955 by Theodore Besterman as head of the Institut et Musée Voltaire in Geneva, in Les Délices Studies in the Enlightenment . 550 volumes of this research series had been published by the end of 2015.

All Vf publications are bilingual, in English and in French.

Brief history of the Voltaire Foundation (Vf)

The undisputed founding father of the Voltaire Foundation was the Englishman of Polish descent Theodore Besterman , leading bibliographer of the 20th century, Voltaire biographer and tireless editor of Voltaire's extremely extensive correspondence in 51 volumes:

"Lorsqu'on lui demanda ce qu'était la Voltaire Foundation , la réponse de Besterman fut aussi immodeste qu'elle était exacte:" La Voltaire Foundation, c'est moi . " Cette étonnante riposte, qui ne peut qu'évoquer Louis XIV, était caractéristique du personnage. Elle est révélatrice d'une vision extraordinaire ainsi que d'un total commitment. Besterman est la source et l'origine de la Foundation, et sans lui elle n'aurait jamais vu le jour. "

“If you asked him [Theodore Besterman] what the Voltaire Foundation was, his answer was as immodest as it was correct: “ The Voltaire Foundation, that's me. “This astonishing answer, which absolutely brings to mind Louis XIV , was typical of this personality. It reveals a broad perspective and a limitless commitment. Besterman is fons et origo , the source and origin of the foundation, which would never have been established without him. "

Institut et Musée Voltaire, aux Délices, Geneva

In 1929 the city of Geneva acquired Voltaire's former Les Délices estate , on which the " philosopher " lived from 1755–1760 with his niece and lover, Madame Denis (Marie-Louise Mignot, daughter of Voltaire's sister Marguerite-Catherine Arouet), and where he wrote the famous poem Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne ( Poem about the disaster of Lisbon ) in 1756 .

Theodore Besterman, who had been fascinated by Voltaire since childhood, had built up a large private collection of Voltairiana (old editions, original manuscripts ...). At the beginning of the 1950s he entered into negotiations with the city of Geneva and submitted the proposal to establish a Voltaire research center, an Institut et Musée Voltaire in Les Délices . In return, Besterman would transfer his Voltaire collection to the newly founded museum. The city of Geneva accepted the proposal. In 1954 the museum opened and Theodore Besterman was appointed institute and museum director for life.

In this museum and institute in Geneva, Besterman began his immense publishing project, a critical edition of Voltaire's extraordinarily extensive correspondence, which in the definitive edition (OCV volumes 85–135, 1969–1977, 51 volumes) should ultimately comprise 21,222 letters.

In 1971 there was a legal dispute between Besterman and the city of Geneva. Besterman left Switzerland and returned to England. There he founded the Voltaire Foundation . Shortly before his death in late 1976, Besterman bequeathed the Voltaire Foundation to Oxford University. Since then, the foundation has had its secure place there. Besterman's successor as director of the foundation was initially his secretary Andrew Brown. Nicholas Cronk, Oxford Professor of French Literature, has been Director of the Voltaire Foundation since 2002 .

Tasks of the Voltaire Foundation (Vf)

Edition of a historical-critical complete edition of Voltaire's works

The philological shortcomings of the three Voltaire editions of the 18th and 19th centuries - the 70-volume Kehl edition (1783–1789), the 72-volume Beuchot edition (1828–1840) and the 52-volume edition by Moland ( 1877–1885), all of which wrongly had the full attribute in their title, prompted Theodore Besterman to realize the enormous project of a complete historical-critical edition of Voltaire's works - in chronological order:

"Voltaire's correspondence has never yet been edited at all in the true sense of the word. The Kehl edition of 1785–1789 remains the only collective one based on the manuscripts, and we shall see that many of Voltaire's letters were printed in this edition with a somewhat modified regard for what we actually wrote ... In the event, more than nine-tenths of the present edition being based on manuscripts, it has been found that the standard Moland text of 1880–1882 does not contain a single letter printed quite accurately, while half of it contains substantial defects . "

- The Complete Works of Voltaire, Volume 85, Correspondence and related documents, definitive edition by Theodore Besterman, Institut et Musée Voltaire, Geneve 1968, Introduction, S. XVI.

In 1968 Theodore Besterman started this monumental editorial project, Œuvres complètes de Voltaire (OCV) / The Complete Works of Voltaire, with the publication of volume 81: Voltaire's Notebooks 1 . Volumes OCV 81, 82, 85–135 were also edited personally by Theodore Besterman. A total of 220 OCV volumes are now planned.

Publication of an academic monograph series: SVEC

As director of the Institut et Musée Voltaire in Geneva, Theodore Besterman launched an academic monograph series Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century (SVEC). Under the title Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment , Vf is continuing this series of publications on global enlightenment research. 550 volumes had already appeared by 2015.

Digital Voltaire - Creation of a permanent digital work edition

In the digital editions area, Voltaire's correspondence is already available online for subscribers. A project The Electronic Enlightenment and the creation of a permanent Voltaire online edition are in progress.

Publication of the complete correspondence of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

The Voltaire Foundation made it possible for the British Romanist Ralph Alexander Leigh to edit Jean-Jacques Rousseau's complete correspondence : 52 volumes, publication period 1965–1998, more than 7,000 letters.

Award received

It is surprising that the most important Voltaire research center outside of France came into being. Nevertheless, the Académie française recognized the scientific achievement of the Voltaire Foundation in Oxford by awarding this research institution the Grand Prix Hervé Deluen in 2010 , the largest French prize for services to Francophonie .

Web links

• Voltaire Foundation (Vf) - University of Oxford (website in English)
• Aurélie Julia: The Voltaire Foundation in Oxford and Theodore Besterman, its founder
• Besterman Center for the Enlightenment

literature

• Theodore Besterman : Voltaire , Winkler Verlag, Munich, 1971,
• Theodore Besterman: Correspondence and related documents. definitive edition, Œuvres Complètes de Voltaire (OVC) 85–135, 1969–1977, ISBN 978-0-7294-0049-7 .
• Flávio Borda d'Agua, François Jacob: Petite histoire des Délices: De la propriété de Saint-Jean à l'Institut et Musée Voltaire. La Baconnière Arts Editions, 2013, ISBN 978-2-940462-04-9 . [1]
• Pierre Guillaud-Brandon: La correspondance de Voltaire, éditée par Théodore Besterman In: Bulletin de l'Association Guillaume Budé. Lettres d'humanité Année 1957, Volume 16, Numéro 4, pp. 131–154, [2]
• Francesco M. Cordasco: Theodore Besterman, bibliographer and editor: a selection of representative texts. The Great bibliographers series, no.9, Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1992, ISBN 0-8108-2497-3 .
• Nicholas Cronk (Editor Director of the Voltaire Foundation ): The Cambridge Companion to Voltaire. Cambridge University Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0-521-61495-5 .
• Aurélie Julia: Voltaire à Oxford: The Voltaire Foundation. In: Revue des Deux Mondes . 10/2011 (French), [3]
• Ralph Leigh: Correspondance complète de Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Edition complète des lettres, documents et index (volumes 1–52), ISBN 0-7294-0685-7 . Plan de l'édition , Voltaire Foundation
• Haydn Mason: Histoire de la Voltaire Foundation. (French, pdf) and Haydn Mason: A history of the Voltaire Foundation. (english, pdf)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} OCV - Œuvres complètes de Voltaire - List of all volumes published up to November 2015 ( Memento of the original from December 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ The Voltaire Foundation (leaflet) ( Memento of the original dated December 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ^ ^{A b} Haydn Mason: Histoire de la Voltaire Foundation. ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (French, pdf) and Haydn Mason: A history of the Voltaire Foundation. ( Memento of the original from February 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; English)  
4. ↑ ^{a b} Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment , formerly SVEC ( Memento of the original from December 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ^ Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment
6. ↑ SVEC- List of publications 2015 ( Memento of the original dated December 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
7. ^ ^{A b} François Bondy : Word from the highest Voltairologist. Review of Besterman's Voltaire biography. In: time online. 9/72.
8. ^ Theodore Besterman (Ed.): Correspondence and related documents. definitive edition, 51 volumes , In: Œuvres complètes de Voltaire (OCV). Volumes 85 to 135, publication period 1968–1977, ISBN 978-0-7294-0049-7 .
9. ↑ L'État, c'est moi - I am the state
10. ↑ The merry niece. In: Der Spiegel. 1/1958.
11. ^ Le Musée Voltaire
12. ^ ^{A b} Aurélie Julia: Voltaire à Oxford: The Voltaire Foundation. In: Revue des Deux Mondes . 10/2011 (French), archived copy ( memento of the original from March 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
13. ↑ Christiane Mervaud: Voltaire's correspondence. In: Nicholas Cronk (ed.) (Director of the Voltaire Foundation ): The Cambridge Companion to Voltaire. Cambridge University Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0-521-61495-5 , p. 153.
14. ^ Electronic Enlightenment
15. ↑ Correspondance complète de Jean-Jacques Rousseau ( Memento des Originals of May 28, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , ISBN 978-0-7294-0685-7 , and Edition critique établie et annotée par RA Leigh ( Memento of the original from September 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
16. ↑ Grand Prix Hervé Deluen