Voltaire Foundation, Oxford

Voltaire Foundation, Oxford The Voltaire Foundation at University of Oxford is a research centre and academic publisher specialising in the 18th century. boundaries.

Founded in 1976 with the mission to lead research and publishing on the 18th century across all disciplines & geogr. The Voltaire Foundation is a world leader for eighteenth-century scholarship, publishing the definitive edition of the Complete Works of Voltaire (Œuvres complètes de Voltaire), as well as Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment (previously SVEC), and the correspondences of several key French thinkers.

Revisiting the legacy of the EnlightenmentIn 1804, twenty years after publishing his famous tract, Was ist Aufklärung?, ...
05/12/2025

Revisiting the legacy of the Enlightenment

In 1804, twenty years after publishing his famous tract, Was ist Aufklärung?, Immanuel Kant died in his native Königsberg. That same year, his self-appointed heir, J. G. Fichte, had already begun sizing up the legacy of the Enlightenment. Fichte sounded an ambivalent note, describing an era of rational emancipation that had sealed off futures once granted by spiritual life. But it was G....

In 1804, twenty years after publishing his famous tract, Was ist Aufklärung?, Immanuel Kant died in his native Königsberg. That same year, his self-appointed heir, J. G. Fichte, had already begun s…

‘Mexican Jesuits write the history of the Americas’ by Luis RamosMexican Jesuits write the history of the Americas by Lu...
28/11/2025

‘Mexican Jesuits write the history of the Americas’ by Luis Ramos

Mexican Jesuits write the history of the Americas by Luis Ramos has recently been published in the Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment series. The volume is an examination of how three exiled Jesuits shaped the discourse of continental emancipation from Spain. In this blog post, Ramos reflects on his research and explains how the book uncovers the transformative role that eighteenth-century Mexican Jesuits played in reshaping European intellectual life....

Mexican Jesuits write the history of the Americas by Luis Ramos has recently been published in the Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment series. The volume is an examination…

The Modernity of Moses MendelssohnIn his new book-length essay On Antisemitism the historian Mark Mazower observes that ...
21/11/2025

The Modernity of Moses Mendelssohn

In his new book-length essay On Antisemitism the historian Mark Mazower observes that far from undermining the intellectual underpinnings of antisemitism and resolving the ‘Jewish question’ in favour of emancipation and civil equality, the Enlightenment added new damaging myths. In this context, who deserves to be remembered better than Moses Mendelssohn who, a good century before the start of Mazower’s main narrative, argued for the place of religious toleration at the heart of the Enlightenment?...

In his new book-length essay On Antisemitism the historian Mark Mazower observes that far from undermining the intellectual underpinnings of antisemitism and resolving the ‘Jewish question’ in favo…

La Beaumelle (1726-1773), admirateur critique du grand poète Voltaire dès son adolescence, a été un adversaire d’autant ...
14/11/2025

La Beaumelle (1726-1773), admirateur critique du grand poète Voltaire dès son adolescence, a été un adversaire d’autant plus redouté que sa plume acérée puisait ses arguments dans une vaste érudition. Malgré les menées de Voltaire qui pendant vingt ans le dénonce aux autorités pour le neutraliser, il ne s’est jamais laissé intimider: ‘En colère, de sang-froid, vous me trouverez toujours sur vos pas.’...

La Beaumelle (1726-1773), admirateur critique du grand poète Voltaire dès son adolescence, a été un adversaire d’autant plus redouté que sa plume acérée puisait ses arguments dans une vaste éruditi…

It is now over seventy years since the president of Guernsey’s Société Guernésiaise drew attention to a major corpus of ...
07/11/2025

It is now over seventy years since the president of Guernsey’s Société Guernésiaise drew attention to a major corpus of exercise books containing what were described as the Guernseyman Thomas Martin’s translations into ‘Norman French, as spoken in the parish of St. Martin’ of ‘the four gospels, the plays of Shakespeare and the Comedies of Molière’ (Le Huray, 1953-1954, p.16). The next time the exercise books were mentioned in print it was noted that, although the…...

It is now over seventy years since the president of Guernsey’s Société Guernésiaise drew attention to a major corpus of exercise books containing what were described as the Guernseyman Thomas Marti…

📣📣📣 Opportunity: Director of the Voltaire Foundation 📣📣📣We are seeking a Director to lead the Voltaire Foundation, to su...
24/10/2025

📣📣📣 Opportunity: Director of the Voltaire Foundation 📣📣📣

We are seeking a Director to lead the Voltaire Foundation, to succeed Professor Nicholas Cronk, and warmly invite applications.

More information:

We are seeking a Director to lead the Voltaire Foundation, to succeed Professor Nicholas Cronk, and warmly invite applications. The Voltaire Foundation, originally established thanks to the…

Dr Zoe Screti and Dr Gillian Pink investigate a curious coincidence surrounding three near-identical letters by French p...
23/10/2025

Dr Zoe Screti and Dr Gillian Pink investigate a curious coincidence surrounding three near-identical letters by French philosopher Voltaire. The Voltaire Foundation, University of Oxford is developing a digital catalogue of manuscripts associated with the Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire. Bringing together manuscripts held in diverse global collections has been a wonderful challenge. Looking into a manuscript held at the John Rylands Library, the project has unearthed an intriguing mystery....

Dr Zoe Screti and Dr Gillian Pink investigate a curious coincidence surrounding three near-identical letters by French philosopher Voltaire. The Voltaire Foundation, University of Oxford …

Among the many portraits of Voltaire collected by Comte Launoit and now housed in the Royal Library of Belgium, one (see...
17/10/2025

Among the many portraits of Voltaire collected by Comte Launoit and now housed in the Royal Library of Belgium, one (see picture below) stands out as particularly enigmatic.[1] It depicts an owl wearing a skullcap and spectacles, perched upon a book titled ‘Voltaire’, with a slip of paper marked ‘Feuilleton’ protruding from between its pages. To the owl’s left lies an open volume inscribed ‘Merope’, supporting a burning candle; to the right, a quill rests in an inkwell labelled ‘Fiel’ (gall)....

Among the many portraits of Voltaire collected by Comte Launoit and now housed in the Royal Library of Belgium, one (see picture below) stands out as particularly enigmatic.[1] It depicts an owl we…

Voltaire’s chair, fashioned as a writing desk and now in the Musée Carnavalet, is the focus of a chapter in my doctoral ...
10/10/2025

Voltaire’s chair, fashioned as a writing desk and now in the Musée Carnavalet, is the focus of a chapter in my doctoral dissertation at the University of Toronto, examining global interchanges of art and ideas in eighteenth-century Paris. Finished in Asian-style lacquer, it is a French chair shaped by foreign sensibilities. More than a relic of craftsmanship, this working chair was commissioned in anticipation of Voltaire’s celebrated return to Paris and became part of his final days there, standing as both a practical tool of writing and a diplomatic gift honouring the philosophe....

Voltaire’s chair, fashioned as a writing desk and now in the Musée Carnavalet, is the focus of a chapter in my doctoral dissertation at the University of Toronto, examining global interchanges of a…

Three principal collections of engraved portraits of Voltaire are held respectively by the Royal Library of Belgium, the...
26/09/2025

Three principal collections of engraved portraits of Voltaire are held respectively by the Royal Library of Belgium, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and the Austrian National Library. While each one was assembled under very different historical circumstances, together they form the most exhaustive corpus of Voltaire’s representations in print. As part of my research for the forthcoming Voltaire Iconography database…...

Three principal collections of engraved portraits of Voltaire are held respectively by the Royal Library of Belgium, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and the Austrian National Library. While e…

The theme addressed in The Legacy of the Enlightenment. Rights, Constitutions, Equality edited by Vincenzo Ferrone, Vale...
19/09/2025

The theme addressed in The Legacy of the Enlightenment. Rights, Constitutions, Equality edited by Vincenzo Ferrone, Valentina Altopiedi and Giuseppe Grieco stems from research carried out within the framework of the Turin Humanities Programme over many years. The necessity of reflecting upon the legacy of the Enlightenment in the centuries following the eighteenth century became both urgent and inescapable immediately after 1989, with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the tragic communist illusion....

The theme addressed in The Legacy of the Enlightenment. Rights, Constitutions, Equality edited by Vincenzo Ferrone, Valentina Altopiedi and Giuseppe Grieco stems from research carried out within th…

The Voltaire Foundation and Liverpool University Press are delighted to announce that the new online edition of Voltaire...
10/09/2025

The Voltaire Foundation and Liverpool University Press are delighted to announce that the new online edition of Voltaire’s complete works, including extensive scholarly apparatus, is now available on a free trial basis to libraries before its official launch in January 2026. OV homepage using French-language interface. Oxford University Voltaire (OV) is a ground-breaking online resource which provides the best scholarly edition of the works of Voltaire....

The Voltaire Foundation and Liverpool University Press are delighted to announce that the new online edition of Voltaire’s complete works, including extensive scholarly apparatus, is now available …

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