Voltaire Foundation building Banbury Road Oxford

The Voltaire Foundation is a research department of the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, founded by

Theodore Besterman Theodore Deodatus Nathaniel Besterman (22 November 1904 – 10 November 1976) was a Polish-born British psychical researcher, bibliographer, biographer, and translator. In 1945 he became the first editor of the ''Journal of Documentation''. From ...

in the 1970s. It publishes the definitive edition of the ''

Complete Works of Voltaire The ''Complete Works of Voltaire'' (''Œuvres complètes de Voltaire'') is the first critical edition of the totality of Voltaire's writings (in the original French) arranged chronologically. English translation at The project was started by the b ...

'' (''Œuvres complètes de Voltaire''), as well as '' Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment'' (previously ''SVEC'', Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century), a

monograph A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject. In library cataloging, ''monogra ...

series devoted to the eighteenth century, and the correspondences (letters) of several key French thinkers. Directed by Professor Nicholas Cronk, it forms part of Oxford's Humanities Division.

Origin

In the 1950s, the

bibliographer Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...

and translator

started to collect, transcribe and publish all of Voltaire's writings. He founded the Voltaire Institute and Museum in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

where he began publishing collected volumes of Voltaire's correspondence. During the final years of his life, Besterman opened discussions with the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. These culminated in him naming the university his

residuary legatee A residuary estate, in the law of wills, is any portion of the testator's estate that is not specifically devised to someone in the will, or any property that is part of such a specific devise that fails. It is also known as a residual estate or ...

and arranging for the posthumous transfer of his collection of books and manuscripts, which included many collective editions, to the

Taylor Institution The Taylor Institution (commonly known as the Taylorian) is the Oxford University library dedicated to the study of the languages of Europe. Its building also includes lecture rooms used by the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, Univ ...

(the university centre for modern languages). The Institution dedicated a room as the Voltaire Room in January 1975, to house Besterman's collection and The Taylor Institution's own. Following Besterman’s death on 10 November 1976, the Voltaire Foundation was vested permanently in the University of Oxford.English translation at voltaire.ox.ac.uk (PDF)

''Complete Works of Voltaire''

The ''

'' (''Œuvres complètes de Voltaire'') is the first critical edition of the totality of his writings, arranged chronologically. Each text is published with an introduction, variants and detailed annotations. A provisional table of contents listed 146 volumes, since expanded to 200 volumes by completion of the series, which is planned for 2018. In 2010, the foundation was awarded the by the

Académie Française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

for this fifty-year project.

''Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment'' (previously ''SVEC'')

Since its inception as ''Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century'' in 1955, nearly 550 books have been published within this series. It publishes scholarly work in English or French across a broad range of disciplines, including history, the history of ideas/philosophy, the history of the book, theatre, literature, visual arts and music, science and economics, and gender studies.

References

External links

Professor Nicholas Cronk profile
University of Oxford {{Authority control Departments of the University of Oxford Educational institutions established in the 1970s Voltaire