One of the Most Exquisite Copies of the Definitive Edition of Montaigne's Essais, in a Matchless Binding by Lortic

Montaigne, Michel de. Les essais. Edition novvelle, trovvee apres le deceds de l'Autheur, reueuë & augmentée par luy d'vn tiers plus qu'aux precedentes Impreßions. Paris, Abel l'Angelier, 1595. Folio (343 x 217 mm). 19th century olive green morocco binding, richly gilt with intertwined laurel vines, wine-red gilt morocco doublures, embossed gilt edges, signed "Lortic".

Montaigne continued to work on his opus magnum even after the publication of the complete edition of the Essais (see n° 97 in our cat. 90); on his death in 1592, he left two annotated copies to his foster-daughter Marie de Gournay, which formed the basis of this enlarged edition of 1595. She added her own corrections to the impressions, as can also be seen in our two copies. The first, a particularly wide-margined copy, is immaculately preserved in one of the most beautiful and complex Parisian bindings of the 19th century by Lortic père from the Parran and Gougy collections, decorated miraculously with separate tools, the other in an elegant London binding by Rivière (see n° 99b in our cat. 90).

Provenance: Lortic's label on the flyleaf. - Bound for the great collector Alphonse Parran, see Bulletin Morgand 54, Paris 1901, no. 41646: frs. or 2500 (with his bookplate). - Lucien Gougy (1863 - 1931), his Paris Auction II of 7-9 November 1934, no. 705 (with full-page illustration on cover): frs. 5500.

Literature: Adams M 1622; BM STC French 317; Brunet III, 1836; Cioranesco 15283; Ebert 14271; Graesse IV, 579; Lonchamp, Français II, 330; PMM 95 (first edition); Rahir 548f.; Sayce/Maskell, Nr. 7A; Tchemerzine VIII, 408; Ziegenfuß/Jung II, 169; for Lortic: Beraldi III, 71-94; Devauchelle II, 56-61; Fléty 115.

This book has been described in great detail in our catalogue 90 “Wunderkammer”, no. 99a, available in our Online Shop.

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