Freethought Archives >> Baron d'Holbach >> The System of Nature

Holbach published La Système de la Nature in 1770 under the name of the late Jean-Baptiste de Mirabaud (1674-1760), the author of several freethinking works. The work was first translated into English in 1795 by William Hodgson while imprisoned in Newgate for drinking a toast to the success of the French Revolution.  It apeared in several English editions in the nineteenth century, under the titles of The System of Nature and Nature and Her Laws.

This version is based on Samuel Wilkinson's translation published in London in 1820-21. Although this edition was published in three instalments, this e-text retains the original two-volume format.  Wilkinson seems to have adapted the French text rather freely in parts, e.g. the final paragraph of the Preface. For a more faithful translation see Henry D. Robinson's translation of 1835 (available offsite in PDF format).