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[PASCAL, Blaise (1623-1662)]. Les Provinciales ou Les Lettres écrites par Louis de Montalte à un provincial de ses amis & aux RR. PP. Jésuites. Cologne: Pierre de la Vallée, 1657.
First edition, comprising 18 separately published ‘Lettres provinciales’ united in a single volume. In these 18 letters, Pascal attacks casuistry and accuses the Jesuits of moral laxity in a prose style that would influence Voltaire and Rousseau. ‘The first example of French prose as we know it today, perfectly finished in form, varied in style, and on a subject of universal importance’ (PMM). Included in this volume are c.27 other pamphlets, some in extract form, on the Jansenist-Jesuit feud. PMM 140; Tchemerzine V, p.66.
Quarto (227 x 163mm). Woodcut title device, 3ff. ‘Advertissement’, 18 ‘Lettres Provinciales’, nos.1-15 of 8pp., nos.16-18 of 12pp., with the ‘Réponses’ to letters 11-15 and the ‘Refutation de la réponse’ to letter 12 (a few leaves browned, the 'Réponse' to letter 14 trimmed just into text). Contemporary calf, red morocco spine label lettered in gilt (upper joint splitting, extremities lightly rubbed, small chip at head of spine). Provenance: MS table of contents in a 17th-century French hand.
First edition, comprising 18 separately published ‘Lettres provinciales’ united in a single volume. In these 18 letters, Pascal attacks casuistry and accuses the Jesuits of moral laxity in a prose style that would influence Voltaire and Rousseau. ‘The first example of French prose as we know it today, perfectly finished in form, varied in style, and on a subject of universal importance’ (PMM). Included in this volume are c.27 other pamphlets, some in extract form, on the Jansenist-Jesuit feud. PMM 140; Tchemerzine V, p.66.
Quarto (227 x 163mm). Woodcut title device, 3ff. ‘Advertissement’, 18 ‘Lettres Provinciales’, nos.1-15 of 8pp., nos.16-18 of 12pp., with the ‘Réponses’ to letters 11-15 and the ‘Refutation de la réponse’ to letter 12 (a few leaves browned, the 'Réponse' to letter 14 trimmed just into text). Contemporary calf, red morocco spine label lettered in gilt (upper joint splitting, extremities lightly rubbed, small chip at head of spine). Provenance: MS table of contents in a 17th-century French hand.
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