Avi Lifschitz
@diderotesque.bsky.social
5.6K followers 700 following 17 posts
Historian of ideas and culture, hovering between the 18th century and the 21st - and between Oxford, Berlin and London. https://www.history.ox.ac.uk/people/associate-professor-avi-lifschitz
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Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
voltaire.ox.ac.uk
How universalist was Enlightenment thought? In our 2025 Besterman Lecture, Antoine Lilti (Collège de France) discusses 'The three languages of universalism: thinking globally in the Enlightenment’. Thursday 13 Nov, 5pm @magdalenoxford.bsky.social:
voltaire.ox.ac.uk/event/bester...
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
voltaire.ox.ac.uk
Extended deadline!

Call for Papers now open until 20 October.
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
voltaire.ox.ac.uk
The excellent journal Lumières is looking for contributions to its 'varia' and book review sections. More info: www.pub-editions.fr/fr/868-lumie...; past issues: shs.cairn.info/revue-lumier...
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
royalhistsoc.org
This week's 'Last Word', BBC Radio 4, includes the medieval historian Barbara Harvey (1928-2025) bit.ly/3KmCQ6M (9 mins 32).

Among her many contributions to the profession, Barbara was Vice President of the Society, 1986-90. With contributions from former colleagues Joanna Innes and John Blair.
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
damianobardelli.bsky.social
Do you work on the intellectual history of the long 18th century?

Have you an interest in subjects relating to poverty and inequalities?

Then you should definitely answer this call!

For more info, you can dm me ✉️
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
roydipiazza.bsky.social
Happy to share my new blog post on C18 French-Swedish relations for the Oxford Centre for Intellectual History blog @oxfordcih.bsky.social. French-Swedish diplomacy treated cultural alignment as a powerful vehicle for political change in Sweden👇
intellectualhistory.web.ox.ac.uk/article/enli...
Enlightening the king: French-Swedish relations in the letters of Gustaf Philip Creutz with Gustav III
intellectualhistory.web.ox.ac.uk
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
voltaire.ox.ac.uk
In 2026, to accompany the digital edition of Voltaire’s complete works (OV: www.ov-vf.com), the Voltaire Foundation will launch Voltaire Iconography – an open-access critically annotated database of visual representations of Voltaire.

www.voltaire.ox.ac.uk/digital-enli...
Voltaire Foundation
www.ov-vf.com
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
voltaire.ox.ac.uk
Apply by 27 October!
voltaire.ox.ac.uk
Five funded PhD positions (4 years each) at the Politics of Enlightenment research group at IZEA @unihalle.bsky.social! Details here: polight.uni-halle.de/en/five-posi...
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
oxfordcih.bsky.social
Congratulations to Mrinalini Wadhwa of our MPhil in Intellectual History (and @magdalenoxford.bsky.social) on a fascinating blog post @jhideas.bsky.social!
jhideas.bsky.social
In today’s think piece, Mrinalini Sisodia Wadhwa analyzes how historian Sylvia Murr’s discovery of plagiarism in “the most celebrated work of nineteenth-century Indology” led her to develop an approach to historical discourse that challenges received genealogies of the ‘global’ turn.
The Franco-Indian Enlightenment of Sylvia Murr
by Mrinalini Sisodia Wadhwa
web.sas.upenn.edu
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
oxunienl.bsky.social
New on the blog | 'The making and remaking of the Enlightenment' by Hanna Roman & Olivia Sabee. In this post, the authors reflect on their recent publication in the series and its relevance to the current political climate. Read now: bit.ly/remaking-the-enlightenment 📚 @voltaire.ox.ac.uk #c18
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
tayoxford.bsky.social
📝 New Blog Post! 📝

Check out this new @voltaire.ox.ac.uk blog post by Nicholas Cronk, celebrating our recent acquisition of a rare printing of Voltaire's Candide, from 1791.

Read on to learn more about the novel itself and the history of its publication, as well as more details on our new edition!
Reading ‘Candide’ during the French Revolution
The Taylor Institution Library (Bodleian Libraries) has recently acquired a rare printing of Candide dating from the Revolutionary period: this edition of 1791 was not known to the principal biblio…
voltairefoundation.wordpress.com
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
jhideas.bsky.social
The recent issue of the JHI includes an article by Ingrid Schreiber: "Egoism and Sociability in the Kantian Public Sphere" muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/artic...
A quote from the article: "We may never truly be alone in Kantianism, but we are also never really together—perhaps to our ultimate advantage."
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
oxunienl.bsky.social
New to the series | La Place Louis XV from the Old Regime to the Revolution by Victoria E. Thompson. Find out more, and purchase directly for 20% off RRP: bit.ly/LaPlaceLouisXV #EighteenthCentury 📖 @voltaire.ox.ac.uk
Promotional image for the book La Place Louis XV from the Old Regime to the Revolution: King and people in the Parisian royal square by Victoria E. Thompson. The book cover is shown on the right, featuring an illustration of an 18th-century Parisian square with a statue of a mounted figure and a large crowd. On the left, the same illustration is used as a faded background with a blue box containing the text: 'A new perspective on the decline of the monarchy in the eighteenth century by focusing the analysis on an urban space.' Logos at the bottom include Liverpool University Press, Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment, Voltaire Foundation, and University of Oxford.
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
voltaire.ox.ac.uk
Exciting news about the recent acquisition of a 1791 edition of Voltaire’s Candide. The edition is recorded – there are copies in Geneva and Louvain – but it is certainly rare. A Voltaire Foundation (voltairefoundation.wordpress.com) and @tayoxford.bsky.social blog coming soon!
A book opened on the title page of the 1791 edition of Voltaire’s Candide. The book lies on supports and a book snake is holding the page down.
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
chrisbrooke.bsky.social
For #WorldElephantDay, here's J.-P.-L. Houël's classic depiction of elephants having sex in 1803 (from the British Library):

(h/t @diderotesque.bsky.social, author of the magnificent article "The Book of Job & the Sex Life of Elephants", Journal of Modern History vol. 91 [Dec. 2019]: pp. 739–75.)
Filth.
diderotesque.bsky.social
Congrats to Ingrid Schreiber, a recent DPhil @oxhistoryfaculty.bsky.social @wadhamcollege.bsky.social, on the publication of her fascinating article in the august @jhideas.bsky.social, re-examining recent attempts to view Kant as a social (or proto-sociological) thinker. doi.org/10.1353/jhi....
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
oxunienl.bsky.social
New to the series | Cultural transmission and the French Enlightenment, edited by Hanna Roman and Olivia Sabee. Find out more, and purchase directly for 20% off RRP: bit.ly/Cultural-Tra... #EighteenthCentury 📖
@voltaire.ox.ac.uk
Promotional graphic for the book Cultural Transmission and the French Enlightenment: Repurposing the Past, edited by Hanna Roman and Olivia Sabee. The right side shows the book cover, featuring a blue top section with the title and editor names, and a historical illustration of a woman writing at a desk below. On the left side of the graphic is a grayscale engraving of a woman, with decorative scrollwork in the background. Centered text reads: “Illuminates material forms of knowledge and their circulation, defining Enlightenment as invention, repurposing, and reception.” Logos at the bottom include Liverpool University Press, Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment, and the Voltaire Foundation.
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
voltaire.ox.ac.uk
Five funded PhD positions (4 years each) at the Politics of Enlightenment research group at IZEA @unihalle.bsky.social! Details here: polight.uni-halle.de/en/five-posi...
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
oxunienl.bsky.social
The Eighteenth-Century Studies Collection offers over 700 volumes from two perpetual access digital collections and includes a complete archive of all content published in the Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment series between 1955–2021.

Find out more > bit.ly/digital-enli...
Reposted by Avi Lifschitz
oxunienl.bsky.social
New to the series | The age of Du Pont de Nemours: Politics, law and physiocracy in the Ancien Régime to the American republic, edited by Arnault Skornicki and Anthony Mergey. Find out more, and purchase directly for 20% off RRP: bit.ly/DuPontdeNemours #EighteenthCentury 📖
@voltaire.ox.ac.uk
Promotional graphic for “The Age of Du Pont de Nemours,” edited by Anthony Mergey and Arnault Skornicki, published in the Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment series. The image features a grayscale portrait of Pierre-Samuel Du Pont de Nemours on the left and the book cover on the right, which includes the same portrait. Text reads: “A book retracing the life and work of Pierre-Samuel Du Pont de Nemours in new disciplines.” Logos of Liverpool University Press & the Voltaire Foundation are displayed at the bottom.