Pascal — Les Provinciales, Seventh Edition (Elzevier, Amsterdam, 1669)

PASCAL, Blaise. Les Provinciales, ou les Lettres écrites par Louis de Montalte à un Provincial de ses amis, et aux RR. PP. Jésuites. Septième édition. Cologne [Amsterdam]: Nicolas Schoute [Daniel Elzevier], 1669. Small 12mo.

An attractive seventeenth-century Elzevier edition of Pascal’s celebrated Provinciales, published under the fictitious Cologne imprint of Nicolas Schoute but printed by Daniel Elzevier in Amsterdam.

First issued individually between 1656 and 1657 under the pseudonym Louis de Montalte, the eighteen Provincial Letters arose from the controversy surrounding the Jansenist theologian Antoine Arnauld and his opponents among the Jesuits. Pascal transformed what might have remained a specialist theological dispute into one of the great works of French polemical prose, attacking Jesuit casuistry with a combination of irony, precision and wit that secured the work a lasting literary reputation far beyond its original controversy.

The Provinciales were highly contentious from the outset. They were condemned by Pope Alexander VII in 1657 and subsequently subjected to official suppression in France. Their publication history consequently became closely associated with clandestine and pseudonymous printing, particularly in the Netherlands.

Daniel Elzevier issued an Amsterdam edition in 1657 under the fictitious Cologne imprint of Pierre de la Vallée, followed in 1659 by a substantially revised edition carrying the equally fictitious imprint of Nicolas Schoute. The present 1669 edition continues this Elzevier publishing tradition. It is the seventh edition stated on the title page and the fourth edition of the Provinciales published by the Amsterdam Elzeviers, reprinted line for line from the sixth edition of 1666.

This edition also contains the additional nineteenth Lettre d’un avocat au Parlement à un de ses amis, traditionally printed with the Provinciales but attributed not to Pascal himself, rather to the leading Jansenist lawyer and writer Antoine Le Maître.

An appealing example of one of the defining works of seventeenth-century French literature, retaining its early calf binding and combining literary, theological and printing-history interest.

Size

14 × 8 cm.

Condition

Very good. Bound in contemporary full calf, apparently unrestored, with five raised bands, gilt decoration to the spine and red morocco lettering-piece. The binding shows the expected rubbing, scuffing and surface wear of a seventeenth-century volume, with wear around the extremities and spine ends, but remains attractive and coherent. The boards remain firmly attached. The early laid-paper endpapers appear integral to the binding.

Internally very well preserved, with generally clean, crisp leaves and only normal age toning and occasional minor marks. 

Bibliographical Note

Seventh edition, as stated on the title page; the fourth edition of the Provinciales published by the Elzeviers of Amsterdam. Imprint: “A Cologne, Chez Nicolas Schoute, 1669”; a fictitious Cologne imprint, the edition attributed bibliographically to Daniel Elzevier at Amsterdam. Collation: [24], 476 pp.

The edition is a line-for-line reprint of the sixth edition of 1666 and includes the additional Lettre d’un avocat au Parlement à un de ses amis, attributed to Antoine Le Maître.

The 476-page Elzevier printing is bibliographically distinct from another 1669 edition issued under the same Nicolas Schoute imprint, which extends to approximately 501 pages. The present issue corresponds to USTC 1806093 and STCN 095653074 and is identified in the specialist Elzevier bibliography as Willems 1419.

References

Willems 1419; Maire, II, p. 203; USTC 1806093; STCN 095653074.