Paul Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach (1723–1789)

This revised edition of D'Holbach's chief work was first published in 1770 under the assumed name of Jean-Baptiste Mirabaud, Secretary of the French Academy (who had died in 1760). Now commonly referred to as 'The Bible of Atheism,' it created a firestorm of opposition, even drawing the ire of Voltaire and Frederick the Great. No printer's name appeared on this title, due to the certainty that the work was potentially extremely dangerous for the real author, publisher and printer. D'Holbach (1723-1789) was a wealthy German who had settled in Paris and whose house became a prominent salon of the Encyclodaedists--indeed one of the chief social centers of culture in Europe. D'Holbach was probably assisted by Diderot and other Paris intellectuals, and the result was this magnificant, if somewhat prolix, defense of atheism and naturalism--the first explicit atheistic treatise of Western civilization (or at least the first one to survive). 'Let us then conclude,' wrote D'Holbach, 'that the word GOD.., not presenting to the mind any true idea, ought to be banished (from) the language of all those who are desirous to speak so as to be understood' (from the H.D. Robinson translation, J.P.Mendum, 1889). This is typical of the vigorous, uncompromising tone of The System of Nature, the best and most influential defense of atheism ever written. A remarkable Pre-Darwinian work, especially in the light of there being no alternative explanation for the existance of man and the other species in nature at that time! --(Synopsis by Les Heiser, Freethought and Scholarly Books.)… (more)