1 / 25
Live
Premium A selection by: PASTOR Maison de Ventes aux Enchères - Commissaires-Priseurs au Mans
MONTAIGNE, Michel Eyquem de. Essais de Messire Michel seigne…
See original version (French)
MONTAIGNE, Michel Eyquem de. Essais de Messire Michel seigne…
See original version (French)
Lot no. 40
MONTAIGNE, Michel Eyquem de.
Essais de Messire Michel seigneur de Montaigne, chevalier de l'ordre du Roy, & Gentil-homme ordinaire de sa Chambre / Livre premier & second.
A Bourdeaus, Par S. Millanges, 1580.
Extremely rare and precious first edition of the Essais.
This work was printed by Simon Millanges, a printer and bookseller in Bordeaux, in the second half of the 16th century.
2 parts in a large in-8 volume in in-12 format.
(8)-496 pp. and (4)-650-(1) pp. 21 and 25 lines per page, with some amputations (see below).
(4) ff. and A-II(6) and (3) ff. and AA-SSss(7).
Very fine typographical mark in black on the second title page, attractive wood-engraved bands and initials in black.
Extremely sought-after work.
The characteristics of the two title pages bearing the mention of dignities after the author's name (Chevalier de l'ordre du Roy, & Gentil-homme ordinaire de sa Chambre) - which had been requested by Montaigne himself - allow our copy to be classified as the second state of the first printing.
The presence of the typographical mark on the title page of the second book, and not a fleuron, indicates a type 3 of the second state.
Cf. A. Legros, Essais de 1580 et 1582.
The true original contains only two Books, and Montaigne did not publish a Third Book until 1588.
A touching copy, rebacked in old soft vellum with laces, with contemporary handwritten additions (title and date) in brown ink on the spine.
Copies in antique vellum have become the rarest of all.
"There are now (...) a total of just under a hundred copies. It is difficult to estimate the precise print run for this edition. The rarity of the copies suggests that no more than 300 or, at most, 400 copies were printed. (...) The two books of this first edition of the Essays are almost always bound in a single volume (...) and copies in vellum are extremely rare". Cf. Desan, Bibliotheca Desaniana, 8 (2011).
Title page of Book One torn and missing (typographical mark, place and date). Incomplete of 6 ff. at the end of Book One (pp. 483-494) and of the last ff. of Book Two (end of the errata, as is often seen).
A few pagination errors characteristic of the first edition of the Essais, with no loss to the text otherwise.
Eighteenth-century ex libris in pen on ff. A of the first part and on the title page of the second part, of different origins. Unidentified.
"ex libris D. D. - [Fouquestès] 1738" - "Dumas" (crossed out)
Some early handwritten annotations in pen: correction of a misprint and additions to the text, apparently from later versions of the Essais.
In French in the text, 73.
Minor worm work on a few quires, discreet browning not serious, a few stained pages, small marginal tears on a few quires, short cut on quires PPp, SSs and FFff (second part), small light lateral wetness on the 2nd ff after the title page of the second part and on quires MMmm-NNnnn.
Vellum slightly stained and damaged. Wear and tear to leather laces.
Expert : Alexandre Pingel - You can buy this lot anywhere in France from 12,24 € - You can buy this lot anywhere in Europe from 18,00 €.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits:
Contact organization
Delivery methods
You may also like