Lot n° 88
Estimation :
8000 - 10000
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 10 625EUR
PASCAL (Blaise). - Lot 88
PASCAL (Blaise).
Pensées de M. Pascal Sur la religion et sur quelques autres sujets, qui ont été trouvées après sa mort parmy ses papiers.
Paris : Guillaume Desprez, 1670 - In-12, 157 x 85 : (41 ff.), 365 pp, (10 ff.). Red morocco, boards decorated in the Duseuil style, spine decorated with nerfs, interior gilt roulette, gilt edges, case (period binding and modern case).
Pascal le cœur et la raison, BNF, 2017, pp. 187-188. - Vérène de Diesbach-Soultrait, Six siècles de littérature française. XVIIe siècle. Second part, 2010, n° 224. - The
editorial adventure of this text began in 1669; it has been perfectly summarized by Jean-Marc Chatelain: "The book was first printed in the summer of 1669, under a title page bearing this date and the address of the bookseller Guillaume Desprez, without the booklet of ecclesiastical approvals (...) nor the final booklets of table of contents. It was distributed in the state only to a small number of people, in particular the bishops whose approval was requested. This restricted distribution constituted in a way an enlargement of the "committee": the opinions collected, at the same time as the continuation of the work of the editors, made it possible to make some final modifications in view of the final publication. They were introduced there by means of cartoons (...). One also printed, in this last stage, the completeness of the table of the contents and the book of the ecclesiastical approvals, followed by the extract of the royal privilege that Florin Périer had taken care to take since December 1666 to avoid any risk of surreptitious edition. The edition of Port-Royal was then complete and appeared in the first days of 1670, under a title page bearing this date and with a final printing of January 2, 1670" (Jean-Marc Chatelain, in : Pascal le cœur et la raison, BNF, 2017, p. 152).
This copy is indeed part of this edition, hardback, with the "achevé d'imprimer" dated January 2, 1670, the errata on the back of the privilege, the banner on page 1 showing the chapel of the Parisian College des Quatre-Nations under construction, etc.
A FINE COPY, IN CONTEMPORARY RED MOROCCO.
The copy has been restored and rebacked but it is indeed its original binding, and the endpapers, of comb paper, are also those of the period. Copies of this edition in contemporary morocco are very rare.
This binding, decorated "à la Duseuil" is the same one found on other prestigious copies, coming from the same workshop. Thus, it can be found on the copy of Jean Bonna's collection (cf. Vérène de Diesbach-Soultrait, Bibliothèque Jean Bonna. Six centuries of French literature. XVIIe siècle. Deuxième partie, 2010, n° 224) and on the copy of the library of Henri Schiller sold on December 4, 1987 (n° 42).
As in Jean Bonna's copy, and others of this first edition of 1670, the last line of the errata was crossed out at the time.
Apart from the aforementioned rebinding, the copy shows some light spotting in the margins, not serious, and two paper restorations on leaves L9 and L12. The ruling on these two leaves has been partially erased.
Provenance: Georges Degryse, with ex-libris. - Ex-libris M.D.
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