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Book/Printed Material Frederick the Great's "The Works of the Philosopher of Sans Souci." Volumes I-III. Oeuvres du Philosophe de Sans Souci

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[ Volume 1 ]

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[ Volume 2 ]
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[ Volume 3 ]

About this Item

Title

  • Frederick the Great's "The Works of the Philosopher of Sans Souci." Volumes I-III.

Other Title

  • Oeuvres du Philosophe de Sans Souci

Summary

  • The three-volume edition of selected works by Frederick II, King of Prussia, printed in 1749-50, was the first product of Frederick's private printing press at the palace of Sanssouci. The king entitled the edition, the contents of which were entirely in French, Oeuvres du Philosophe de Sans Souci (The works of the philosopher of Sans Souci). (Sanssouci was the name of the summer palace that Frederick had built just outside Berlin in 1745-47.) Volume one contains the burlesque heroic epic Le Palladion, which was written as a carnival jest and was to remain an absolute secret because of its harsh satire directed at Frederick's contemporaries and at the Christian religion. Only 24 copies were produced. The first printing of Le Palladion was completed in the summer of 1749, but it was so flawed that the king had a revised edition, which he himself edited, printed in January 1750, also in 24 copies. Of the 1749 edition only a single, now-lost, copy is known to have survived. The second and third volumes of the Oeuvres each were produced in 40 copies. Volume two contains eight odes and 16 poems known as épîtres (missives). Volume three contains another ten épîtres, 11 letters (mainly addressed to Voltaire), and three prose pieces. The private printing press of the king continued to produce extremely rare examples of 18th-century book arts up to 1752. These works, designed in a way that was true to style of the "philosopher of Sanssouci," created a suitable framework for Frederick's poetic and literary-historiographical works.

Names

  • Frederick II, King of Prussia, 1712-1786 Author.
  • Schmidt, G. F. (Georg Friedrich), 1712-1775 Artist.

Created / Published

  • Berlin, Germany : Printing Press of King Frederick II, 1750.

Headings

  • -  Germany--Berlin--Berlin
  • -  1750
  • -  Correspondence
  • -  French literature
  • -  French poetry
  • -  Letters
  • -  Poetry
  • -  Voltaire, 1694-1778
  • -  Wit and humor

Notes

  • -  Title devised, in English, by Library staff.
  • -  Original resource extent: Volume 1: 224 pages; volume 2: 246 pages; volume 3: 312 pages.
  • -  Original resource at: Berlin State Library - Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.
  • -  Content in French.
  • -  Description based on data extracted from World Digital Library, which may be extracted from partner institutions.

Medium

  • 1 online resource.

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2021666127

Online Format

  • compressed data
  • pdf
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

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Credit Line: [Original Source citation], World Digital Library

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Frederick Ii, King Of Prussia, Author, and G. F Schmidt. Frederick the Great's "The Works of the Philosopher of Sans Souci." Volumes I-III. Berlin, Germany: Printing Press of King Frederick II, 1750. Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021666127/.

APA citation style:

Frederick Ii, K. O. P. & Schmidt, G. F. (1750) Frederick the Great's "The Works of the Philosopher of Sans Souci." Volumes I-III. Berlin, Germany: Printing Press of King Frederick II. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021666127/.

MLA citation style:

Frederick Ii, King Of Prussia, Author, and G. F Schmidt. Frederick the Great's "The Works of the Philosopher of Sans Souci." Volumes I-III. Berlin, Germany: Printing Press of King Frederick II, 1750. Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021666127/>.