Michel de MONTAIGNE. Essais. Book one & two. 2 volumes in-8, marbled basane, spine with 5 ornate nerves (17th century binding), modern black chagrin case. Brunet, III-1835 // Cioranescu, 15279 // De Backer, 448 // Le Petit, 99 // Sayce, 1 // Tchemerzine-Scheler, IV-870. I. (4f.)-496 / [ ]4, A-Z8, Aa-Hh8 // II. (2f.)-653 (marked 650)-1f. / [ ]2, AAa8-ZZz8, AAaa8-SSss8 // 94 x 156 mm. Very rare and sought-after first edition of the first two books of Montaigne's Essays. Michel Eyquem de Montaigne needs no introduction: he is such an important figure in the literature of the 16th century, and his main work, his Essays, remains one of the masterpieces of human thought. He was born in 1533 in his family's castle in Périgord. He learned Latin before learning French, then Greek, and, armed with a solid erudition, studied law in Bordeaux and was appointed councillor to the Bordeaux Parliament. It was there that he met La Boétie, for whom he had one of those indescribable friendships of which only great souls are capable (Larousse). Montaigne left public service early, was elected mayor of Bordeaux and represented his compatriots with great distinction at the States of Blois (1557). After the death of his father, he took refuge in his château, where he began writing his Essais. It was here that Montaigne drew on the strength of his doubt and scepticism, which, going against the grain of the political and religious compartmentalisation of his time, led him to risk tolerance. He then travelled through France, Switzerland, Germany and Italy as an observer and philosopher, returning to France and devoting himself entirely to study and philosophy. He died of esquinancie, more simply known as angina, in 1592. The Essays contain three books, the first two of which appeared in 1580 in this edition. The pagination is very fanciful. We compared our copy page by page with that of the BnF and that of the Bodleian Library in Oxford described by Sayce and found differences in the pagination of volume II, without the text having been altered: quire QQq for the BnF and quire HHhh for the Bodleian. As Sayce notes, there are probably no two perfectly identical copies. Sayce also noted different states for the titles and errata. Our copy is in the second state. Finally, our copy contains first and second printing remarks in the text. Some passages have been underlined in ink. A very fine copy, despite small stains and faint marginal spotting on several leaves of volume II. Provenance: F. Estienne (handwritten ex-libris partly effaced on the title and on the flyleaf of the second volume).