De la Sagesse

Octavo, (9) leaves including title and portrait and 1 blank leaf, 742 pp., (1) page of errata and (1) blank page. Green morocco, triple gilt fillet around the boards, corner fleurons, gilt-stamped coat of arms at center, smooth gilt spine, decorated edges, inner roll-tooling, gilt edges. Armorial binding from the 18th century.

168 x 105 mm.

Charron, Pierre. Of Wisdom, three books, by Pierre Charron, Parisian Doctor of Laws.
Second edition, revised and enlarged.
M.DC.IV, Paris, David Douceur, Bookseller, Legal, rue Saint Jacques at the sign of the Fixed Mercury. (1604).

First Paris edition of De la Sagesse and second original edition, printed in 1604, three years after the original Bordeaux edition.
It is rarer than the first.

“The Bordeaux editions contain several passages that were either removed, softened, or corrected in the Paris edition of 1604, published after the author’s death, with his corrections and additions (by La Roche Maillet, lawyer); it is this original text that most publishers of this book have followed, notably the Elseviers and Bastien; they certainly did well to adopt it, but they should have reported the variants of the 1604 edition” (Brunet).

De La Sagesse is the major work of Pierre Charron, “this didactic edition of Montaigne’s Essays” as Sainte-Beuve, who made the phrase famous, put it.

De la Sagesse extends Montaigne’s Essays, of whom Charron was a disciple and heir.

The Three Books of Wisdom appeared in Bordeaux in 1601. They comprise a vast treatise on moral philosophy.

“It is absolutely correct that Charron greatly benefited from Montaigne’s experience. Moreover, he believed he had the right to do so since Montaigne himself had appointed him his heir. But Charron is not just a compiler: in the first book of ‘Wisdom’, he acts as an original thinker, attempting very objectively to outline in a few strokes the nature of man and to define the relationships between the physical and the moral. Through his clear and synthetic mind, he already foreshadows the moralists of the 17th century, and especially Descartes’ treatise on ‘The Passions of the Soul’.”

“Wisdom marks, at the beginning of the 17th century, a first effort to bring order to ideas. Charron had the same admirers and the same opponents as Montaigne, and the success of ‘Wisdom’ closely resembles that of ‘The Essays.’ Translated into Italian, English, and German, it had 49 editions in France from 1601 to 1672” (M. Dreano).

Condemned by parliament, the university, and the Jesuits, De la Sagesse was already cited in 1645 by Gabriel Naudé among the rarest books.

The 1604 edition, rarer than that of 1601, has, according to Morgand, a value similar to the 1601 edition. Ref: Tchémerzine, II, pages 253 and 255. 1601 edition bound in old calf, Morgand: 20 Gold F; 25 Gold F and 50 Gold F; 1604 edition; Morgand, in old calf: 40 Gold F; and a second 40 Gold F.

Precious copy bound in green morocco of the 18th century with the arms of the Duke of Aumont, peer of France, born August 29, 1709, died in Paris April 14, 1782.

The Duke of Aumont’s library had been carefully assembled. It contained the best French works of all kinds and the finest editions. Most of the bindings, whether in morocco or marbled calf, came from the hands of the skilled Padeloup.
This magnificent collection was dispersed, despite offers from an Englishman who, it is said, wished to purchase it in its entirety. Many works from this origin are now found at the National Library.