There is little need to discuss the latter's enormous contribution to Voltaire bibliography herel suffice it to say that no one has ever attempted to replace him. Others made such a survey in the interest of bibliography: among them were Gabriel Peignot (Recherchesur les ou1)rages de Voltaire ), Joseph Qu6rard (La France littdraire x466-37) and, of course, Georges Bengesco (Voltaire bibliographie de ses euyre.s, vol.ivr pp.xxi, r-t46). One undertaken by the editors of the Kehl edition and another by Adrien Beuchot (see the Moland edition, vol.i, pp.x-xvii) were probably the most serious of these. Since Voltaire's death put an end to his availability, subsequent editors of his complete works have had to rely on surveys of existing editions. Likewise excluded were editions whose existence is attested to only by documentation, for they are of little use to scholars who are preparing a critical edition. But the practical thrust of this study did not allow sufficient time to analyse a number of odd volumes, most of them containing miscellaneous poetry, that are also essentially collective editions. Others are included as well, because their contents indicate that they were meant to perform the same function. This purpose required thorough coverage of known editions in which the publisher announced his intention of collecting the author's works through use of the word euvres in the title. It should not be taken as a work of scholarship complete in itself, but rather as an aid to scholars and particularly those presently engaged in editing the complete works of Voltaire.
TrapnellĢ PREFA CE The following study is preliminary in nature. 1 Suruey and analytit of Voltaire's colleciye editions, z 728- z 78g by ltriiliam H.
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