MONTAIGNE. - Lot 87

MONTAIGNE. The Essays of Michel, Lord of Montaigne. A new edition thoroughly corrected of the errors found in previous editions, based on the true original. Paris: Thomas Ioly, 1652. Small folio, (15) leaves including title page, preface, author’s biography, and table of contents (frontispiece missing), 840 pp. (pagination errors; quire 3Y bound before 3X), (21) ff. of table of contents and the King’s privilege. Contemporary tan sheepskin, ribbed spine, tan title label, compartments decorated with a gilt iron stamp, double gilt fillet framing the covers (binding rubbed, leather worn in places, joints split, foxing, minor marginal defects including worm damage and tears, frontispiece missing). This edition was distributed by several booksellers, and although the one bearing Courbe’s address is the most famous, it can also be found at Pierre Recollet, Courterot, and Loyson. One of the most highly regarded editions of the Essays. Provenance: Library of Mr. Delasize, a lawyer (19th-century engraved bookplate on the upper back cover). Provenance: from the library of Pierre Séjourné. Pierre Séjourné (1930–1993), a Parisian bookseller and lover of fine bindings, a flutist, and an enthusiast of literature and classical music, frequented both the Parisian artistic and literary circles and the world of the decorative arts and their schools through his uncle, the architect and academician Albert Laprade. Also an author and actor, he devoted himself to writing and performing his own plays, which were staged primarily in the Paris region.