Michel de Montaigne - Les Essais - 1600

The Essays
Michel de Montaigne

New edition, based on the copy found after the Author's death, revised & augmented by a third more than in previous prints

1600 at Abel L’Angelier (Paris)

Reprint of the 1598 edition issued by Abel L’Angelier and which was based on the posthumous princeps edition of 1595, incorporating the latest corrections made on the autograph manuscript by Marie de Gournay, Montaigne’s adopted daughter. Marie de Gournay watched over the edition prepared for the first large complete edition of 1595 and wrote an important preface defending the work and her own legitimacy as editor in the face of criticisms.

The 1600 edition is a direct reprint in the same octavo format as the 1598 edition by the same publisher, Abel L’Angelier. The printer, abandoning the heavy and costly folio format (grand office book) of 1595 in favor of the more portable octavo format (in-8), thus more manageable and transportable, democratized Montaigne’s reading in the 17th century.

With a title framed by a beautiful wood engraving by Jean de Gourmont, this 1600 edition stabilizes the 1598 text by incorporating the very latest rereadings and corrections of typos made by Marie de Gournay.

The close proximity in publication of these two editions (1598 and 1600) demonstrates the immense public enthusiasm for the Essays at the turn of the century.

This edition serves as the direct textual base for numerous later publications because it presents the Essays’ text as considered definitive. Moreover, the L’Angelier edition is the last edition in which Marie de Gournay participated. This 1600 edition stands as a key step in the diffusion of the work in the 17th century and in the centuries to follow.

Volume in-8 (18.6 x 13 cm).
1166 pages
GOOD OVERALL CONDITION FOR A 426-YEAR-OLD BOOK!
Healthy and clean volume, with no loss or wormholes (only the two last pages have the upper corner slightly damaged without any missing words—see photo), with pencil underlinings of certain passages in the text.
Binding (obsolete?) still quite solid, leather, with raised bands on the spine, gilded compartments, many signs of wear and small tears

Careful shipment in tracked package