Jean de La Bruyère - Les Caractères - 1697

The Characters of Theophrastus, translated from the Greek, with the characters or the Manners of this century by Mr. de La Bruyère of the French Academy and the key... Estienne Michallet 1697.

2 Volumes in-12 (16.2 x 9.5 cm). 285p., 251p., 336p. Full red morocco binding of the period, spine with raised bands ornamented with fillets and small tools, a simple fillet framing the boards, a gilt border on the edges, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. (Some ordinary wear without serious defects, tiny loss at the crown of the upper spine of volume one, browning and some foxing in places).

First edition in 2 volumes of La Bruyère’s Characters; it is also the first with a printed key. The continuation of Théophraste’s Characters by Pierre-Jacques Brillon appears here for the first time.

The period morocco copies are very rare for all 17th‑century editions of the Characters.