Editorial preface

Catherine's Nakaz was published in Russian in 1767 and in French in 1769. The work was translated into many European languages and was widely read, going through thirty editions in four years. A critical edition by M.D. Chechulin was published in St Petersburg in 1907. An English translation appears in W.F. Reddaway, Documents of Catherine the Great (Cambridge University Press, 1933).

Diderot began writing his Observations sur le Nakaz on his return journey from Russia in 1774. Another unpublished commentary was written by the physiocrat G.F. Le Trosne, under the title L'Esprit de l'Instruction, which has recently been rediscovered in St Petersburg by Georges Dulac. Diderot must have seen this work in 1775, before it was sent to Catherine, because he cites it and uses it as the basis of his discussion of physiocratic ideas in his Observations. From certain parallels between passages in the Observations and the third edition of the Histoire des Deux Indes, which Diderot was working on between 1777 and 1780, it seems that a final revision of the text must have taken place during those years.

After Diderot's death a copy of the work was sent to Catherine, together with other unpublished material and Diderot's library. Catherine reacted angrily to what she read and may have had the copy destroyed; no version of the work has been found in St Petersburg.