VOLTAIRE - "Oeuvres complètes". Set of 70 vol. in-8, speckled half calf, marbled boards, ornate smooth spines, title and appendices. PERIOD BINDING Imprimerie de la Société Littéraire Typographique, 1785-1789, (Kehl edition) Volume 70 includes La vie de Voltaire. Famous edition of the complete works of Voltaire, who gave permission for publication two years before his death to Charles-Joseph Panckoucke, the famous bookseller and official publisher of the Imprimerie Royale and the Académie Royale des Sciences. Panckoucke ceded the rights to Beaumarchais, who intended to give this posthumous work a monumental appearance. To this end, he acquired the punches engraved by John Baskerville, bought paper mills and dozens of presses, and rented the fort of Kehl, in Germany, less than six kilometers from Strasbourg, for some twenty years, in order to escape the censorship in force in France. The Société Littéraire-typographique was born. Editorial management was entrusted to Condorcet and Decroix. The set includes 3 portraits of Voltaire by Largillière (vol. 1), De La Tour (vol. 16) and Moreau (vol. 32), an engraved map for the History of Russia (vol. 24) and 14 scientific plates (vol. 31). Very slight spotting to spines, a few faded headpieces, small tears to four headpieces, fine restoration to title of volume 39. Very light staining on volume 17 (on the first 32 pages), otherwise good condition inside. A fine set.