The new edition of Voltaire’s works produced by Cramer in 1756 in close collaboration with the author contained, in volumes 4 and 5, ‘Mélanges de littérature, d’histoire et de philosophie’. Alongside significant works previously published were a number of new texts, some related, some standing alone, that reflect not only Voltaire’s perennial interests, but a new way of presenting them in short articles or ‘petits chapitres’, as he referred to them. These new texts form the major part of this volume 45B of the Œuvres complètes de Voltaire.