Is My Essais / The Essayes (Florio translation) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• French first: "Essais de Messire Michel Seigneur de Montaigne, Chevalier de l'Ordre du Roy, & Gentil-homme ordinaire de sa Chambre
• Livre premier & second." Bordeaux, Simon Millanges, 1580; two parts in one octavo volume, roughly 164 x 105 mm, containing Books I and II only, with an errata leaf
• The book was set hastily and probably printed at the author's expense, and its defects are the identification: abundant misprints, inconsistent founts and type, and famously erratic pagination in the second part, which runs to 653 pages but is misnumbered 650 without loss — the variants are so numerous that essentially no two copies collate alike, and no single ideal pagination can be reconstructed. Étienne de La Boétie's sonnets follow the chapter "De l'amitié" here; they were dropped from the 1595 posthumous edition, so their presence is a point
• English high spot: "The Essayes or Morall, Politike and Millitarie Discourses of Lo: Michaell de Montaigne", London, printed by Val[entine] Sims for Edward Blount dwelling in Paules churchyard, 1603; small folio, untrimmed leaves about 295 x 195 mm
• STC (2nd ed.) 18041
• USTC 3001450

How to confirm the first-printing statement

Publishers stated first printings differently by era. The decisive tells are a printed “First Edition/First Printing” statement, a number line whose lowest number is 1 (Random House ends at 2), or a dated first printing with no later printings listed. Paste your copyright page into the number-line decoder.

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
3. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
4. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

Both the original-language and the English editions are collected and they are different books, not issues of one another. The original-language true first is Bordeaux, Simon Millanges, 1580 — Books I and II only; roughly 39 copies are recorded in public collections and about 50 in private hands. Book III appears for the first time in the 1588 Paris quarto of Abel L'Angelier, the fifth edition and the last published in Montaigne's lifetime, which also inserts more than 600 new passages into Books I-II; the 1595 posthumous Paris folio (Abel L'Angelier, edited by Marie de Gournay with Pierre de Brach from Montaigne's annotated copy) established the standard text. The English-market high spot is John Florio's translation, London, Val. Sims for Edward Blount, 1603 — the first unabridged translation of the Essays into any language. Florio worked primarily from the 1595 Paris folio, occasionally consulting the 1588 quarto and the Paris octavos of 1598, 1600 and 1602; so the English first descends from the 1595 text, not from the 1580 Bordeaux.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club editions are documented for the early printings. The first-thus traps are numerous and matter more. For the English: the 1613 second edition (London, Melchisidec Bradwood for Edward Blount and William Barret) carries Florio's revised text and retitles Samuel Daniel's commendatory poem, and a third edition followed in 1632 — both are Florio, neither is the first. Charles Cotton's rival English translation, first published 1685-86, is a different translation altogether and not an edition of Florio, though it is frequently listed as though it were. For the French: the 1582 Bordeaux second edition, the 1588 Paris quarto and the 1595 Paris folio are all separate editions with their own standing, and a 1587 "missing edition" figures in the bibliography; none is an issue of the 1580. Later abridgements and commonplace-book compilations such as the 1701 Abstract are separate works.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Essais / The Essayes (Florio translation) a first edition?

A first edition of Essais / The Essayes (Florio translation) by Michel de Montaigne (Simon Millanges, Bordeaux) is identified by: French first: "Essais de Messire Michel Seigneur de Montaigne, Chevalier de l'Ordre du Roy, & Gentil-homme ordinaire de sa Chambre.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. Both the original-language and the English editions are collected and they are different books, not issues of one another.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

No book-club editions are documented for the early printings. The first-thus traps are numerous and matter more. For the English: the 1613 second edition (London, Melchisidec Bradwood for Edward Blount and William Barret) carries Florio's revised text and retitles Samuel Daniel's commendatory poem, and a third edition followed in 1632 — both are Florio, neither is the first. Charles Cotton's rival English translation, first published 1685-86, is a different translation altogether and not an edit

I have a first edition of Essais / The Essayes (Florio translation) — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.