Beschreibung
"One of the Most Remarkable Works of the Eighteenth Century" [MONTESQUIEU, Charles de Secondat, Baron de]. De l'Esprit des Loix, ou Du rapport que les loix doivent avoir avec la constitution de chaque gouvernement, les moeurs, le climat, la religion, le commerce, &c. à quoi l'auteur a ajouté. Des recherches nouvelles sur les loix Romaines touchant les Successions, sur les Loix Françoises, & sur les Loix féodales. Geneve: Chez Barillot, & Fils [i.e., Paris: Prault], [n.d., 1748]. Second edition, first issue, (same year as first edition, 1748) with "Barillot" spelled with one "r" on title and with the errata leaf at the end of Volume I. Two quarto volumes. [8], xxiv, 522, [1, errata], [1, blank]; [4], xvi, 564 pp. Contemporary calf, expertly rebacked with original spines laid down, corners and ends of spine renewed. Spines decoratively tooled in gilt in compartments with raised bands and brown and red morocco labels. Gilt board edges, marbled endpapers. All edges stained red. Front joint of volume I just starting. Bookplates. Contemporary ink inscriptions o n titles and front fly-leaves. Occasional light marginal spotting. Still a v e r y good copy of this important work. In 1743, Montesquieu began work on De l'Esprit des Loix, "one of the most remarkable works of the eighteenth century.It took four years to write, and when it was finished almost all his friends advised him not to publish it. Montesquieu paid no attention and it was printed in Geneva in the autumn of 1748. It consists of six main sections, the first dealing with law in general and different forms of government, and the second with the means of government, military matters, taxation and s o on. The third deals with national character and the effect on it of climate; a subject of peculiar originality and the one most discussed at the time. The fourth and fifth deal with economic matters and religion; the last is an appendix on law Roman, feudal and modern French. The most distinctive aspect of this immense syllabus is its moderation: a quality not designed to achieve official approval in 1748. It is an always original survey which is neither doctrinaire, visionary, eccentric, nor over-systematic.The scheme that emerges of a liberal benevolent monarchy limited by safeguards on individual liberty was to prove immensely influential.his theories underlay the thinking which led up to the American and French revolutions, and the United States Constitution in particular is a lasting tribute to the principles he advocated" (Printing and the Mind of Man). Kress 4920. Tchemerzine VIII, p. 460. Printing and the Mind of Man 197 (first edition). HBS 66821 $3,000. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 66821
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