The Library › Reel IV · All the Empress’s Men
Did Catherine the Great buy Voltaire’s library?
VERDICTTRUE
Yes. After fifteen years of correspondence, Catherine bought Voltaire’s private library from his niece, Madame Denis, after his death in 1778: about 7,000 volumes for 30,000 rubles. She wanted it kept intact as a monument and housed it in the Hermitage. It is now in the National Library of Russia in St Petersburg.
The receipts
- Voltaire’s marginalia and notebooks, Voltaire Foundation, University of Oxford
The comedy version
The untold story of Catherine the Great, inventor of the job interview.
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- Did Catherine’s husband play with toy soldiers in bed?True
- Did Catherine the Great have her husband Peter III killed?Disputed