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TP + 1-172 + [1]-196 + TP [Lettres Turques] + [3]-71; 12mo. Later Edition.This edition put out by Marteau, Montesquieu's original publisher, adds the Letter from a Turk in Paris which was not written by Montesquieu. The original publication in The Persian Letters in 1721, sparked a number of imitative works - all based on the "letter-writing" format. One of these, Letters from a Turk, was published by Poullain de Saint-Foix in 1730. When Marteau reissued The Persian Letters in 1731, he appended this work at the end. Montesquieu was not pleased, commenting that "a sequel is inadmissible, and that any admixture with the letters of others, however ingenious such letters may be, is still more so." This edition is from 1744, thirteen years after the first "complete" edition was published. In the history of letters and fiction, it is interesting to note that Montesquieu was well aware of the literary genre - the epistolary novel - that he had launched. He noted in his Mes Pensées: "My Lettres persanes taught people to write letter-novels."Montesquieu's first publication was a revolutionary book that had a profound and wide impact. "France was publicly shocked and privately delighted. Four editions appeared in 1721, and then none for nine years; it is not unreasonalbe to suppose that it was officially suppressed." (Printing and the Mind of Man, p. 117, PMM 197 - De l'Esprit des Loix) But the damage had been done. French society, the Catholic Church and, perhaps most importantly, the French monarchy had been held up to scathing public ridicule in a book that proved to be one of the best sellers of the 18thcentury. "Montesquieu made his name as a writer at the age of 32 with the publication of Les Lettres persanes (1721). Presented in the guise of a series of letters sent from France by two Persian visitors, Usbek and Rica, and translated into French by Montesquieu, this book is a satirical attack on French values and institutions. It is written with great wit and skill. The Persian visitors begin by remarking on the strange customs of the French in such matters as cutting their hair and wearing wigs and reversing the Persian rule of giving trousers to women and skirts to men. They then proceed by degrees to express delicate amazement at the things the French choose to respect or hold sacred. They comment on the mixture of grossness and extravagance in the manners of Parisian society. Their sly digs at French politics are even more telling. They describe Louis XIV as a 'magician' who 'makes people kill one another even when they have no quarrel.' The Persians also speak of 'another conjuror who is called the Pope. who makes people believe that three are only one, and that the bread one eats is not bread or that the wine one drinks is not wine, and a thousand other things of the same sort.' The Spanish Inquisitors are described as a 'cheerful species of dervishes who burnt to death people who disagreed with them on points of the utmost triviality.' The revocation of the Edict of Nantes is likewise mocked, Louis XIV being said to have contrived 'to increase the numbers of the faithful by diminishing the numbers of his subjects.'" (EP, Volume 5, p. 369)Montesquieu's advanced the burgeoning French Enlightenment by emphatically underlining what was relative to time and place and contrasting this with what is natural and absolute at all times and everywhere. The book signaled a sea change in the way that people looked at their venerable institutions which, having read this book, were clearly no longer sacrosanct. What had formerly been passively accepted was now fair game for investigation by Reason and for ridicule. contemporary full calf with gilt lettering and designs on the spine which as five raised ribs. Joints recently repaired. The former owner's name ("Ex Libris eg: Stephani Le Comu De Nailly") handsomely inscribed in faded ink beneath the ornamental device in the center of the title page. A very handsome copy of this important work.
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