Initial printing of Candide, ou, l’optimisme / traduit de l’allemand de Mr. le docteur Ralph

Voltaire’s satirical novel, first published anonymously, stands as one of the great literary achievements of the 18th century. The innocent hero’s misadventures reveal human cruelty and greed, and Candide concludes that contentment comes only from tending one’s own garden. An instant success despite much controversy over its political and religious stances, Candide appeared in 17 editions within a year of its first publication. The New York Public Library is one of only two institutions in the world to hold all of these first-year printings. (The other is the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Library.) Voltaire, one of the great minds of the Enlightenment, promoted religious tolerance and legal equality at a time when church and king were powerful and corrupt. Late in life, he was responsible for freeing 12,000 serfs near his Swiss estate.