MONTAIGNE. - The Spirit of the Essays of... - Lot 173 - Giquello

Lot 173
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300 - 400 EUR
MONTAIGNE. - The Spirit of the Essays of... - Lot 173 - Giquello
MONTAIGNE. - The Spirit of the Essays of Michel, Lord of Montaigne. Paris, Charles de Sercy, 1677. In-12, half chocolate brown basane, smooth spine decorated, red edges (19th century binding). First edition, decorated with an allegorical frontispiece engraved by Le Doyen containing the portrait of Montaigne. A work comprising selected extracts intended to revive Montaigne's work at the end of the 17th century, the first of its kind it seems: The era of selected excerpts then begins. This new editorial orientation was of course the direct consequence of Montaigne's condemnation by Rome in 1669 - the year in which the Essays were put on the Index - but it also reflected the sensibility and literary fashion of the time. This vogue for Montaigne's "spirit" and "thoughts" preceded a long period of editorial silence, a real crossing of the desert until the Coste edition of 1724. If it was forbidden to publish the Essays under their original title, it was not impossible to extract the most pious and moral passages under another title. It is the period of the "moralized Montaigne" (Philippe Desan). Upper hinge cracked and fragile.
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