MONTAIGNE, Michel Eyquem de (1533-1592). The Essayes or Morall, Politike and Millitarie Discourses . Translated from French into English by John Florio. London: Valentine Sims for Edward Blount, 1603. 3 parts bound in one volume, 2 o (287 x 187 mm). Complete with blank 2Q4 at end of the second part, π1 leaf of commedatory verses by Danyel, printed correction slip pasted to B1r correcting "towns" to read "vyle," 3 leaves of errata [π2 and two unsigned leaves at end]. Three letterpress title-pages. (Title lightly soiled with a few minor repairs at or near gutter, foremargins of A2-3 stained with A3 foremargin restored, first 19 leaves with unobtrusive wormtracks occasionally catching a few letters, some other slight worming, a few small stains.) Contemporary English blind-ruled calf, Royal arms in center of covers, remains of ties (light wear, few minor repairs); morocco pull-off case. Provenance : King James I (1566-1625) (binding) -- Ledlay (name lightly etched on front cover) -- Hannah D. Rabinowitz (morocco bookplate) -- Gerald E Slater, sold Christie's New York, 12 February 1982, lot 117 -- purchased from John F. Fleming, New York, 29 August 1983. FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH OF THIS IMPORTANT ELIZABETHAN TRANSLATION, AND LITERARY MILESTONE. A FINE COPY, BOUND FOR JAMES I. Florio was candid about his principles as a translator: "Why, then, belike I have done by Montaigne as Terence by Menander, made good French no good English. If I have done no worse, and it be no worse taken, it is well. As he, if no poet, yet I am no thief, since I say of whom I had it, rather to imitate his and his author's negligence than any backbiter's obscure diligence. His house I set before you, perhaps without his trappings, and his meat without sauce" ("To the Courteous Reader"). His tendency to reinvent his material not withstanding, Florio produced a work highly influential in its time, as the numerous editions which follow show. Montaigne's Essays were the earliest of the form, inventing a mode of discourse and rhetoric that reached across languages and disciplines. Of Florio's translation, one cannot underestimate its influence on English writers and thinkers of the time. Diverse passages in the late Shakespeare show its influence, most especially Gonzago's description of the ideal state in The Tempest , as do the works of Burton, Milton, Hobbes and Locke. Bartlett 271; Grolier Langland to Wither 102; Pforzheimer 378; STC 18041.
MONTAIGNE, Michel Eyquem de (1533-1592). The Essayes or Morall, Politike and Millitarie Discourses . Translated from French into English by John Florio. London: Valentine Sims for Edward Blount, 1603. 3 parts bound in one volume, 2 o (287 x 187 mm). Complete with blank 2Q4 at end of the second part, π1 leaf of commedatory verses by Danyel, printed correction slip pasted to B1r correcting "towns" to read "vyle," 3 leaves of errata [π2 and two unsigned leaves at end]. Three letterpress title-pages. (Title lightly soiled with a few minor repairs at or near gutter, foremargins of A2-3 stained with A3 foremargin restored, first 19 leaves with unobtrusive wormtracks occasionally catching a few letters, some other slight worming, a few small stains.) Contemporary English blind-ruled calf, Royal arms in center of covers, remains of ties (light wear, few minor repairs); morocco pull-off case. Provenance : King James I (1566-1625) (binding) -- Ledlay (name lightly etched on front cover) -- Hannah D. Rabinowitz (morocco bookplate) -- Gerald E Slater, sold Christie's New York, 12 February 1982, lot 117 -- purchased from John F. Fleming, New York, 29 August 1983. FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH OF THIS IMPORTANT ELIZABETHAN TRANSLATION, AND LITERARY MILESTONE. A FINE COPY, BOUND FOR JAMES I. Florio was candid about his principles as a translator: "Why, then, belike I have done by Montaigne as Terence by Menander, made good French no good English. If I have done no worse, and it be no worse taken, it is well. As he, if no poet, yet I am no thief, since I say of whom I had it, rather to imitate his and his author's negligence than any backbiter's obscure diligence. His house I set before you, perhaps without his trappings, and his meat without sauce" ("To the Courteous Reader"). His tendency to reinvent his material not withstanding, Florio produced a work highly influential in its time, as the numerous editions which follow show. Montaigne's Essays were the earliest of the form, inventing a mode of discourse and rhetoric that reached across languages and disciplines. Of Florio's translation, one cannot underestimate its influence on English writers and thinkers of the time. Diverse passages in the late Shakespeare show its influence, most especially Gonzago's description of the ideal state in The Tempest , as do the works of Burton, Milton, Hobbes and Locke. Bartlett 271; Grolier Langland to Wither 102; Pforzheimer 378; STC 18041.
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
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