Voltaire in Holland, 1746-1778

This book documents what newspapers, literary journals and private

individuals in Holland wrote about Voltaire between 1746 and 1778. Like

elsewhere in Europe, he was admired for his literary genius but detested

by orthodox Christians for his disrespect of revealed religion. In this

book these views are represented by Gerard Roos, the translator of Zadig,

Socrate and L'Homme aux 40 ecus, and the reverend

Petrus Hofstede. For Jean Rousset de Missy, the editor of Voltariana

and Les Mensonges imprimes, Voltaire was also a selfish cheat

who did not keep his promises to publishers. In L'Epilogueur moderne

Rousset frequently attacked him in connection with Abrege de l'histoire

universelle by Jean Neaulme. Among the documents discovered while

working on this book are the letter Voltaire wrote to the grand pensionary

of Holland after the public burning of his Dictionnaire philosophique,

and a second review of Oeuvres de Maupertuis. The book concludes

with a bibliography of Voltaire translations into Dutch, many of them

published in literary journals.