"UNFORGIVABLY WITTY": FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH OF MONTESQUIEU'S FIRST BOOK, PERSIAN LETTERS, 1722, THE MACCLESFIELD COPY IN CONTEMPORARY CALF

(MONTESQUIEU, Charles Louis de Secondat). Persian Letters. Translated by Mr. Ozell. London: J. Tonson, et al., 1722. Two volumes. 12mo (3-3/4 by 6-1/4 inches) , contemporary full speckled brown calf, gilt-decorated spines, raised bands. Housed in a custom clamshell box.

First edition in English of the Baron Montesquieu's first book, a delicious satire on European institutions, literature and social mores that is a collection of imaginary letters by two Persians who visit Paris, the Macclesfield copy with armorial bookplates and embossed blind stamps, a handsome copy in contemporary calf.

"Born in the Gironde [Montesquieu] inherited from his uncle the title of Montesquieu and the presidency of the Parlement of Bordeaux, an office which he held for ten years. During this period he wrote and published his… famous Lettres Persanes. Conveniently disguised as the correspondence of two Persian noblemen travelling in Europe, Montesquieu satirized, in an unforgivably witty style, the absurdities and abuses of the contemporary social, political, ecclesiastical and literary scene. France was publicly shocked and privately delighted… This success brought Montesquieu into Parisian society" (PMM 197). His first book, it is "the most artistic example of the Oriental pseudo-letter" (Conant). Issued anonymously, Persian Letters is "by no means a random assortment of stray observations, but rather reflects the overall coherence of Montesquieu's general position. Perhaps more clearly than Spirit of Laws (1748), Persian Letters reveals his cosmopolitan (or non-Eurocentric) outlook, his taste for cross-cultural comparison, and his keen eye for societal differences and their roots" (Kingston, ed. Montesquieu and His Legacy, 244). Containing woodcut-engraved initials, head- and tailpieces; with cancels B8, recto 271 (paginated 712 without loss of text). First published in French in 1721. ESTC T90449. Each volume with armorial bookplates of the Earls of Macclesfield's North Library at Shirburn Castle, containing "10.A.25" and "10.A.26" inked shelfmarks; embossed blind stamps on title pages and early leaves.

Text generally fresh with light scattered foxing, light edge-wear, rubbing to joints of contemporary calf. A highly desirable near-fine copy.