Montaigne, Michel de

LES ESSAIS DE MICHEL, SEIGNEUR DE MONTAIGNE [Dauphin de France copy]

Paris: Pierre L'Amy, 1636. Octavo, [8], 1129 pages, [1], [32] index. In Very Good condition. Bound in contemporary full calf, covers with double gilt fillet borders, spine with gilt titling and tooling. Some light wear to binding, including some staining and rubbing, spine with vertical creases, hinges showing some wear. Collated: a8, A-4A8. Small burn mark to pagers 21-26, 313-316very light loss to text. Very light worming to lower gutter of a1-F4, upper fore corner of 3D5-3M3, light loss to text. 4A1 with small chip torn from lower fore corner, no loss to text. Text block on very thin paper, some leaves with poor impression. Some edges of the plate visible in impression. Frontispiece portrait of Montaigne laid in, possibly married from a different edition.

Red wax seal affixed to the front pastedown, reading "Cabinet de Monsieur le Dauphin." Front free endpaper with pencil note reading "Copy of the Duc d'Angoulême, son of King Charles X of France."

CL consignment. Shelved case 3.

1372849

Shelved Dupont Bookstore

Price: $5,000

NOTES

Michel de Montaigne was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance. His Essais contain some of the most influential essays ever written in addition to popularizing the essay as a literary genre. His influence upon French society and culture can not be understated.

The Dauphin of France was the title given to the heir apparent to the throne of France from 1350 to 1791, and from 1824 to 1830, with the arms depicting a double fleur-de-lis and the dolphin. The present seal can not be determined by us to have belonged to a specific Dauphin, but it could have belonged to any of Louis XIV, Louis, Grand Dauphin, Louis, Dauphin of France, Duke of Burgundy, Louis, Duke of Brittany, Louis XV, Louis, Dauphin of France, Louis XVI, Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France, Louis XVII, or Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême. The most likely are Louis XIV (Louis the Great or the Sun King), Louis, Dauphin of France (le Grand Dauphin), Louis, Dauphin of France, or Louis XVI (the Last.) It could have also belonged to a combination of Dauphins, with the stamp of "Cabinet de Monsieur le Dauphin" referring to a general office library, probably at Versailles.