MONTESQUIEU, Charles Louis de Secondat.
Miscellaneous Pieces … translated from the new Edition of his Works in Quarto printed at Paris. London, Wilson and Durham, 1759.
8vo, pp. [4], 334; contemporary ownership inscription erased from title-page, very slightly affecting text, extremities slightly stained and some spotting, but a good copy; bound in full contemporary calf over marbled paper boards, rubbed, joints cracked and exposed but holding, spine gilt in panels, chipped, blue morocco lettering-piece; later shelflabel to front pastedown.
Added to your basket:
Miscellaneous Pieces … translated from the new Edition of his Works in Quarto printed at Paris.
Only edition thus, apparently the first appearance in English of these pieces.
The volume contains, amongst other titles: the Essay on Taste, which was published in England in the same year under Alexander Gerard’s work of the same title; eleven Persian letters that did not appear in his main work by that name, first published in English in 1722; the Temple of Gnidus; Lysimachus; and the Defence of the Spirit of Laws, Montesquieu’s apology for his masterpiece in which he displayed some of his finest writing. The prefatory works are by D’Alembert and include his eulogy for Montesquieu and his critical essay on the Spirit of Laws.
ESTC T89091; Cabeen 48.