Although the novel, Voyages et avantures de J aques Masse, caused some thing of a stir during the first half of the eighteenth century, its author, Simon Tyssot de Patot (1655-1738), remained largely unknown in his lifetime, and it is only in this century that he has been recognized as one of the countless soldiers in the vast army of philosophes that assaulted the bastions of religious, political and social life in Europe of the late seven 1 teenth and early eighteenth centuries. Tyssot was a Huguenot who lived most of his life in Holland where he pursued a career as professor of mathematics in the social and cultural 1 Tyssot and his work seem to have been first brought to the attention of modern writers by the German critics during their investigation of the type of desert island or robinsonade literature that preceded and followed Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. The earliest reference I have found occurs in A. Kippenberg, Robinson in Deutschland bis zur Insel Felsenburg (1713-43), Hanover, 1892, pp. 66-67. Tyssot's name and work appear to have been first linked with the development of socialism in A. Lichtenberger, Le Socialisme au XVIIIe siecle, Paris, 1895, p. 44. Tyssot's Voyages et avantures de Jaques Masse was discussed for its literary merits in A. LeBreton, Le Roman au dix huitieme siecie, Paris, 1898. LeBreton did not know that Tyssot was the author.

Inhalt
I. The Life.- II. Tyssot's Personality.- III. What Tyssot Read.- IV. The Formation and Development of Tyssot's Ideas.- V. The First Publication.- VI. The Publication of Jaques Massé.- VII. The Story of Jaques Massé.- VIII. Jaques Massé as Literature.- IX. The Voyage de Groenland.- X. The Voyage de Groenland as Literature.- XI. The Discourse on Chronology.- XII. The uvres poétiques.- Conclusion.- Appendix A. Extracts from the Tyssot family genealogy.- B. Notice de Jean Tijssot de la famille de Patot.- C. Extracts from the Rumpf family genealogy.- D. A guide to the chronology of the Lettres choisies.- E. List, according to title-page, of libraries holding editions dated 1710 of Voyages et avantures de Jaques Massé.- F. List of libraries holding editions of Jaques Massé not dated 1710.- G. List of libraries holding works other than Jaques Massé.- Archives.