VOLTAIRE, François-Marie Arouet de (1694-1778). Letters Concerning the English Nation. London: printed for C. David and A. Lyon, 1733.

First edition of Voltaire’s essays celebrating England, including the first appearance of the famous story about Isaac Newton and the falling apple, as well as letters about William Penn and American Quakers. "This English translation was done by John Lockman from a manuscript prepared by Voltaire himself. It appeared a year before the original French edition. Four letters deal directly with Newton and his theories and include, for the first time, the famous anecdote of the falling apple, which gave birth to the law of gravitation" (Babson). Babson 242; Sabin 100751.

Octavo (195 x 123mm). Contemporary paneled speckled calf (rebacked and recornered, edges lightly rubbed). Provenance: Mrs Adams (inscription on endpaper) – a few marginal annotations in pencil.