ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Paul Henri Thiery, Baron d'Holbach was born in December 1723. A German by birth (Paul Heinrich Dietrich), he was raised in France and inherited his uncle's fortune and title there.

Although few were aware of the fact during his lifetime, Holbach was the first writer of openly atheistic works in modern history. He ranks as one of the most radical philosophers of the Enlightenment. His estate in Paris became a meeting-place for many prominent intellectual and political figures of the 18th century. Holbach was a close friend of Denis Diderot (1713-1784), and colloborated with him on Diderot's famous Encyclopédie (1751-72).

To avoid persecution Holbach was obliged to publish most of his anti-religious literature anonymously or under false names, usually those of known freethinkers who had been dead for some years. His most famous book is The System of Nature (1770), nicknamed "The Atheist's Bible." In 1772 he published Good Sense, a summary of the principal ideas of The System of Nature. Holbach's books aroused much controversy and even attracted rebuttals from deistic freethinkers such as Voltaire and Frederick the Great.

Holbach died in Paris on 21 January 1789*, a few months prior to the French Revolution. His authorship of the System of Nature and other works did not become widely known until the 19th century.
 

Online Resources:

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Baron D'Holbach: A Study of 18th Century Radicalism in France; 1914 dissertation by Max Pearson Cushing.

Edesheim Home Page (in German)

The System of Nature - Henry D. Robinson's 1835 translation in PDF format.

Letters to Eugenia (1768) - Anthony C. Middleton's 1857 translation at the Internet Archive
 

Offline Resources:

Baron d'Holbach: A Prelude to the French Revolution (1935), by William H. Wickwar.

Ecce Homo! An Eighteenth Century Life of Jesus, edited by Andrew Hunwick (1995).

Good Sense; Prometheus Books reprint (2004) of Anna Knoop's 1878 translation.

The System of Nature; a modernised translation edited by Michael Bush (1999). Volume One only (unfortunately).

Christianity Unveiled - A Controversy in Documents, a modern translation edited by David M. Holohan. Hodgson Press, 2008.

*Sources differ as to Holbach's precise dates of birth and death. His exact birthday appears uncertain, although it is recorded that he was baptised on 8th December 1723. Some authorities incorrectly give June 1789 as the month of his death.

Portrait of Holbach by Louis de Carmontelle, published in Paul Thiry von Holbach: Philosoph der Auflärung, by Harthausen, Mercker & Schröter (Speyer 1989, Pfälzische Landesbibliotek).

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