Lot no. 14
MONTAIGNE (Michel de) . MONTAIGNE (Michel de)
Les Essais de Michel de Montaigne, nouvelle édition enrichie et augmentée aux marges du nom des autheurs qui y sont citez avec les versions des passages grecs, latins et italiens.
A Paris, chez Laurent Rondet, Christophe Journel et Robert Chevillion [vol. I], 1669 ; A Paris, chez Christophle Journel, Ruè Vieille Boucherie au bout du pont S. Michel, à L'image Sainct Iean, 1659 [vol. II and III].
3 vol. in-12°, [33] ff. - 556 pp. - 12] ff. + [2] f. - 827 pp. - 23] ff. + [2] f. - 610 pp. - 17] ff, with three engraved title-frontispieces, the first by Matheus (vol. I, 1669 reprint of the 1659 edition), the other two by Larmessin (vol. II and III, 1659 printing), portraits of Montaigne with his motto "Que sais-je".
Bound in havana marbled calf, decorated smooth spine, red leather title-piece, gilt lettering, gilt roulette on the edges, red edges, turned marbled paper end-papers (the head-pieces are a little lacking, the jaws a little rubbed, some spotting and the corners a little dull).a few spots and/or freckles, not serious; spots a little more pronounced at the end of volume III; a few small wormholes in vol. III.
Size: 140 x 78 mm.
Composite copy. First volume reprint of the 1659 edition published in 1669 by Laurent Rondet, Christophe Journel and Robert Chevillion and two volumes of the 1659 edition (first edition published in three volumes) published by Christophe Journel.
This was the last edition published before the Essays were condemned by Rome and put on the Index in 1676. Like all editions published after 1635, it is based on the Camusat edition, published with the participation of Marie de Gournay.
"Along with the Lyon edition, also published in 1669, it was the last of the seventeenth century to retain the title Essais. Indeed, a few years later, Montaigne's book was placed on the Index and was not republished under this title until 1724 (in London)" (Ph. Desan).
"As with the 1652 and 1657 editions, there are summaries and translations of quotations in the margins. The preface by Marie de Gournay to Cardinal de Richelieu (1635) has also been reproduced. This new three-volume format was adopted by many modern publishers. It has the advantage of separating the three books of the Essays in a way that is perhaps more logical. Most public libraries have copies that are incomplete or have a volume from another edition" (Ph. Desan).
Sayce & Maskell, A Descriptive Bibliography of Montaigne's Essais 1580-1700, 32. - Desan, 76. - Tchemerzine-Scheler, IV, 907.
