Michel de Montaigne, Writings, vols. I–V [1917]

Year of publication: 1917.

Size: 19 cm.

Volume: Vol. I: 324 pp.; Vol. II: 330 pp.; Vol. III: 284 pp.; Vol. IV: 366 pp.; Vol. V: 462 pp. A set of five volumes.

Binding: Period half-leather.

Five volumes of Michel de Montaigne’s “Writings,” translated by Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński (1917). Montaigne (1533–1592), a lawyer and mayor of Bordeaux, created in “Essays” (Essais, 1580), a new genre: the essay. He wrote about himself candidly, with irony and skepticism toward dogma; his question “Que sais-je?” (“What do I know?”) became a symbol of humanistic humility. In 1676, *Essays* was placed on the Index of Prohibited Books. Boy’s translation, with introductions that are works of literature in their own right, was published during World War I by Gebethner and Wolff. The Latin quotations in volumes I–III were translated by Edmund Cięglewicz and Tadeusz Sinko.

A set of five volumes. The title page bears a owner’s signature.

Dirt and ink stains. Period half-leather binding.

An item from the 18th Polish Antiquarian Book Auction.