‎"BAYLE, PIERRE.‎
‎Dictionaire Historique Et Critique. 5 vols. - [""BAYLE'S DICTIONNAIRE DOMINATED ENLIGHTENED THINKING IN EVERY PART OF EUROPE"" - PMM.]‎

‎Amsterdam, Compagnie des Libraires, 1734. Folio (405 x 280 mm). Uniformly bound in five contemporary full sprinkled calf bindings with six raised bands and gilt lettering and ornamentation to boards. Edges of boards gilt. Wear to extremities. parts of gilting worn off, spine-ends chipped, some with loss of leather. Leather of spine cracked and hinges weak. Corners bumped. First few leaves in vol. 1 stained in upper margin, not affecting text. Internally with light occassional browning but generally internally nice and clean. (12), XVI, CXX, 857 pp. + 1 frontipiece; (4), 957, (4), 964-1004 pp.; (4), 857, (4), 868-904 pp.; (4), 985 pp.;"" (4), 896, 103, (1) pp.‎

Reference : 61927

‎Fifth edition of Pierre Bayle’s landmark work, one of the most influential works of early modern thought: """"for over half a century, until the publication of the [Diderot's] Encyclopédie, Bayle's Dictionnaire dominated enlightened thinking in every part of Europe"""" (PMM). More than an encyclopedia, it challenged religious dogma, promoted historical accuracy and laid the groundwork for the Enlightenment. It became a key reference for thinkers like Voltaire, Diderot, and Hume. ”Bayle’s six-million word Historical and Critical Dictionary (1697""; 1702) was so often cited in the eighteenth century that Ernst Cassirer has called it the “Arsenal of the Enlightenment”. Inventories of private European libraries have established the Dictionary as one of the bestsellers of its age. David Hume was clearly influenced by it; he told his friend Michael Ramsay in a letter of 1737 that if he wished to understand his writings he should read Descartes, Malebranche, Berkeley, and “some of the more metaphysical Articles of Bailes Dictionary;"" such as [those of] Zeno and Spinoza” ” (SEP) In 1689, Bayle began making notes on errors and omissions in Louis Moreri's Grand Dictionaire historique (1674), previous encyclopedia, and these notes developed into his own Dictionnaire. Bayle used the dictionary to provide evidence of the irrationality of Christianity, to promote his views about religious tolerance and his anti-authoritarian views on the topic of faith. Bayle indended it to be an """"anti-clerical counterblast to Moreri's [Le Grand Dictionnaire Historique, 1674], in order, as he put it, 'to rectify Moreri's mistakes and fill the gaps'. Bayle championed reason against belief, philosophy against religion, tolerance against superstition"""" (PMM) Graesse I, 314. Brunet I 711PMM 155b.‎