MONTAIGNE Michel de Journal du voyage en Italie, par la Suisse & l’Allemagne, en 1580 & 1581 ; avec des notes par M. de Querlon.

Desan, 111 ; Tchemerzine-Scheler, 914 ; Brunet, III, 1843 ; Fléty, 43 ; J.-M. Chatelain, « Noms de pays : l’Italie de Michel de Montaigne », in Poètes, princes & collectionneurs. Mélanges offerts à Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller, Genève, 2011, pp. 351-366).

A magnificent large paper copy from the first 4to edition, published in the same year as the original in two volumes 12mo.

“En accord avec le goût bibliophilique du XVIIIe siècle le format in-4 est considéré comme le plus désirable” (Desan).

Following the publication of his Essays, Montaigne left behind another memorable, albeit less famous, work: the journal of his journey through Switzerland, Germany and Italy between 1580 and 1581, a journey that was interrupted by the author’s appointment as mayor of Bordeaux. There were many reasons for this journey: to visit the most famous thermal baths in Europe to treat his kidney stones, to escape the troubles of the Wars of Religion and domestic worries, to confront otherness, and even to seek a position as ambassador to Italy.

The original manuscript of the Journal du voyage en Italie, which its author did not intend for publication but kept for his own use, was forgotten for nearly two centuries. It was only rediscovered in a chest at the Château de Montaigne by Abbé Prunis in 1770. The Parisian publisher Le Jay entrusted the task of editing it to Anne-Gabriel Meunier de Querlon, keeper of the manuscripts of the King’s Library, who dedicated the book to Buffon.

This work is « un essai plus vrai que les Essais » (Paul Faure, préface à l’édition de 1948). 

« La lecture du Journal de voyage est un plaisir continu parce que Montaigne garde les yeux ouverts sur le monde (…) Il nous reste un recueil primesautier d’observations merveilleuses sur la nature, l’architecture, l’urbanisme, l’habitat, les hommes, les mœurs, les croyances, les aliments. En toute liberté ! » Antoine Compagnon.

Copy with exceptionally large margins, printed on large paper and complete with the portrait engraved by Saint Aubin.

A very fine copy bound by Antoine Chaumont, who set up shop in 1799 at 269 Rue du Foin-Saint-Jacques before moving to 13 Rue Visconti in the 19th century. He was the teacher of several great 19th-century bookbinders, including Marc-Hippolyte Duru. Chaumont’s blond polish calf bindings, like ours, were praised by Brunet in 1802 at the Exhibition of French Industrial Products. However, the bookbinder’s label on the flyleaf indicates 18 Rue du Foin-Saint-Jacques as the address of the workshop.