Career
He dealt with what he saw as historical and doctrinal errors contained in Voltaire"s work. Nonnotte"s work reached the sixth edition in 1774. Voltaire retorted in his Eclaircissements historiques, and for twenty years continued to attack Nonnotte.
Nonnotte"s publication continued to circulate, and was translated into Italian, German, Polish, and Portuguese.
After the suppression of the Jesuits, Nonnotte withdrew to Besançon and in 1779 added a third volume to the Erreurs de Voltaire, namely, L"esprit de Voltaire dans ses écrits, for which it was impossible to obtain the approval of the Paris censor. The work was translated into Italian and German.
Towards the end of his life Nonnotte published Les philosophes des trois premiers siècles (Paris, 1789), in which he contrasted the ancient and the modern philosophers. The work was translated into German.
He also wrote Lettre à un ami sur les honnêtetés littéraires (Paris, 1766), and Réponse aux Éclaircissements historiques et aux additions de Voltaire (Paris, 1774).
Nonnotte was also the author of L"emploi de l"argent (Avignon, 1787), translated from Maffei. Le gouvernement des paroisses (posthumous, Paris, 1802). All were published under the title Oeuvres de Nonnotte (Besançon, 1819).