Lettres familières
“Only four known copies of this edition remain.” (Laurent Paul Sueur, PhD in History from the University of Paris 7)
“Very rare” (cat. James de Rothschild) first edition of Montesquieu’s “most vibrant” (Roger Caillois) literary work.
An exceptional wide-margined copy in publisher’s binding.
12mo of (2) leaves (engraved frontispiece and title), 264 pp. Temporary grey paperboard binding with brown paper spine, handwritten title label. Contemporary binding (modern ochre morocco case, Boichot).
194 x 107 mm.
Montesquieu, Charles de Secondat Baron de. Familiar Letters from President Montesquieu, Baron de la Brède, to Various Friends in Italy.
(Florence), 1767.
“First edition, very rare, published in Florence by Abbé de Guasco in 1767. It contains, among others, three letters against Madame Geoffrin [pp. 222-241], which led to the destruction of a large part of the edition by Madame Geoffrin herself, who eagerly sought out copies” (Tchémerzine IV, 931).
Tchémerzine IV, 931, Cat. James de Rothschild, II, 1897.
Abbé de Guasco was “the closest confidant and most valued interlocutor of Montesquieu” (Catherine Volpilac-Auger, An Author in Search of a Publisher? p. 185)
“The 2 preliminary ff. include an engraved frontispiece depicting both sides of the medal struck in Montesquieu’s honor after the publication of *L’Esprit des Loix*, and an engraved title placed opposite this frontispiece. Abbé de Guasco, who corresponded extensively with Montesquieu, had this volume printed in Florence in 1767. He published in it three letters against Madame Geoffrin (pp. 222-241), which she omitted from a reprint she herself had produced, under the heading of Florence and Paris, Vincent Durant nephew, 1767, 18mo. This portion of the correspondence does not even appear in a counterfeit printed in Paris, the same year. The painstaking effort Madame Geoffrin made to seek out and destroy copies of the true Florentine edition explains why they have become extremely rare” (Émile Picot, Cat. James de Rothschild, no. 1897).
“The correspondence of Montesquieu, the most vibrant part of his work, remained unpublished during his lifetime” (Roger Caillois).
The first edition, one of the few books described as “extremely rare” by Émile Picot in the Rothschild Library catalogue, contains Montesquieu’s letters addressed to his Italian friends from December 21, 1729, to February 1755, just days before his death.
The most striking part concerns pages 222 to 241, a true indictment against the Parisian dictatorship of Madame Geoffrin (1699-1777).
Her salon was one of the most frequented of that century, where the circles of wit had so much influence on the literary and philosophical movement.
Exceptional copy, the finest recorded in several decades, entirely untrimmed, preserved as issued, measuring 30 mm more than standard copies.
Provenance: member of the Martelli family in Florence (engraved ex-libris with the motto “Sola Virtus vera Nobilitas”)
