Details
[MONTESQUIEU, Charles de Secondat, Baron de (1689-1755). De l'esprit des loix. "Geneva: chez Barillot & fils" [but Paris: Prault] 1748.
2 volumes, 4° (255 x 200mm). Half-titles, errata leaf at end of vol.I. (Occasional browning and staining to fisrt and last few leaves.) Contemporary French mottled calf, spines gilt (slight scuffing to surface of leather on covers. joints slightly split). Provenance: Engraved bookplate in vol.I.
SECOND EDITION of a work which influenced the American Constitution.'The most distinctive aspect of this immense syllabus is its moderation... It is an always original survey which is neither doctrinaire, visionary, eccentric, nor over-systematic... the scheme that emerges... was to prove immensely influential... the United States Constitution in particular is a lasting tribute to the principles [Montesquieu] advocated': PMM 197; Tchmerzine VIII, p.460; Kress 4920. (2)
2 volumes, 4° (255 x 200mm). Half-titles, errata leaf at end of vol.I. (Occasional browning and staining to fisrt and last few leaves.) Contemporary French mottled calf, spines gilt (slight scuffing to surface of leather on covers. joints slightly split). Provenance: Engraved bookplate in vol.I.
SECOND EDITION of a work which influenced the American Constitution.'The most distinctive aspect of this immense syllabus is its moderation... It is an always original survey which is neither doctrinaire, visionary, eccentric, nor over-systematic... the scheme that emerges... was to prove immensely influential... the United States Constitution in particular is a lasting tribute to the principles [Montesquieu] advocated': PMM 197; Tchmerzine VIII, p.460; Kress 4920. (2)