Les Provinciales, ou Lettres escrites par Louis de Montalte

Pascal, Blaise (under the pseudonym Louis de Montalte)

Les Provinciales, ou Lettres escrites par Louis de Montalte

By Louis de Montalte; Latin translation by Guillaume Wendrock, Spanish translation by Gratien Cordero, and Italian translation by Cosimo Brunetti

Cologne

Chez Balthasar Winfelt

1684

A Cologne : Chez Balthasar Winfelt, 1684

French, Latin, Spanish and Italian

Seventeenth-century edition printed in four parallel languages

[16], 613 pages

None

Large octavo (8vo)

19.5 × 13.5 cm

Not identified from the available images

Handmade laid paper

No identifiable watermark visible in the photographs provided

Letterpress printing in two columns; principal text in French with parallel Latin, Spanish and Italian translations; evenly inked and generally well preserved

Later full-grained leather binding

Dark brown with black title label

Spine with raised bands, gilt rules and gilt lettering on a black leather label; marbled endpapers

Five-raised-band spine titled "PASCAL – LETTRES PROVINCIALES" in gilt; later conservation binding, not contemporary with the original edition

Edition of Blaise Pascal's celebrated Lettres provinciales, published under the pseudonym Louis de Montalte, written against Jesuit casuistry and in defence of Antoine Arnauld during the Jansenist controversy. The work presents the French text together with parallel Latin, Spanish and Italian translations, giving the volume considerable philological, historical and bibliographical significance.

Louis de Montalte is the literary pseudonym used by Blaise Pascal for the publication of the Provinciales.

The imprint "A Cologne" is a conventional false imprint frequently found in seventeenth-century editions and does not necessarily indicate the actual place of printing.

The work is regarded as one of the principal texts of the seventeenth-century controversy between the Jesuits and the Jansenists.

The copy is textually complete, ending on page 613 with the word "FIN".

The present binding is later than the printing and represents a high-quality conservation rebinding.

Theology

Jansenism; Jesuits; Religious controversy; Moral philosophy; Church history; Seventeenth-century French literature; Multilingual translation

2027

Good overall condition. The laid paper is well preserved, showing only light age toning and scattered foxing consistent with a seventeenth-century printing. The text is clean and complete, and the later leather binding remains in excellent structural condition.

Library of Alfred Gallart i Genis

Complete copy of the 1684 edition. Preserves a later full leather conservation binding with marbled endpapers and the original laid paper. The parallel presentation of the French, Latin, Spanish and Italian texts constitutes one of the most distinctive bibliographical features of this edition.