MONTAIGNE, Michel de (1533-1592). The Essayes or Morall, Politike and Millitarie Discourses. Translated by John Florio. London: Valentine Sims for Edward Blount, 1603.

First edition in English of Montaigne's Essays. Florio was candid about his principles as a translator: "His house I set before you, perhaps without his trappings, and his meat without sauce." His tendency to reinvent his material not withstanding, Florio produced a work highly influential in its time; Montaigne's Essays were innovative and experimental, inventing a mode of discourse and rhetoric that reached across languages and disciplines and addressing a wide range of philosophical and historical topics (cannibalism, the imagination, medieval heretics). The influence of Florio's translation on English writers cannot be underestimated: diverse passages in the late Shakespeare show its influence, notably Gonzago's description of the ideal state in The Tempest, as do works of Burton, Milton, Hobbes, and Locke. This copy with the often lacking verses to Florio. Grolier Langland to Wither 102; Pforzheimer 378; ESTC 18041; see PMM 95 (first edition in French).

Three parts in one, folio (279 x 178mm). Three letterpress title-pages, leaf of commendatory verses by Danyel, printed correction slip pasted to B1r, 3 leaves of errata (first leaf restored at edges, affecting some letters of title, a few other small repairs affecting some letters, repair to lower half of final leaf just affecting bottom of a rule, toned). 19th-century brown morocco gilt by Riviere, edges gilt (touch of wear at extremities); slipcase. Provenance: Lucius Wilmerding (bookplate, purchased from Alwin J. Scheuer).