The rare second edition of Pascal's Pensées in fine morocco binding of the time

PASCAL, Blaise.

Pensées de M. Pascal sur la religion et sur quelques autres sujets, qui ont esté trouvées après sa mort parmy ses papiers. Nouvelle édition augmentée de plusieurs pensées du mesme autheur.

Paris: Guillaume Desprez, 1678.

2nd Edition. Hardcover. 12mo - over 6¾ - 7¾" tall. Near Fine. Item #002779

Pensées de M. Pascal sur la religion et sur quelques autres sujets, qui ont esté trouvées après sa mort parmy ses papiers. Nouvelle édition augmentée de plusieurs pensées du mesme autheur. Paris: Guillaume Desprez, 1678. [58], 357, [19] pp. [Bound with:] FILLEAU DE LA CHAISE. Discours sur les Pensées de M. Pascal, où l'on essaye de faire voir quel estoit son dessein. Avec un autre discours sur les preuves des Livres de Moïse. Paris: Desprez, 1672. [6], 214, [2] pp. [Bound with:] [PASCAL, Blaise]. Qu'il y a des démonstrations d'une autre espèce, et aussi certaines que celle de la géométrie [4], 12pp. 12mo (162 x 85 mm). Bound in fine contemporary red morocco by, or in style of, Augustin Du Seuil with boards, board edges and spine ruled and decorated in gilt, spine with 5 raised bands, gilt-lettered in first compartent, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers (little rubbing to extremities). Text ruled in red throughout, very minor occasional spotting, else generally crisp and clean. Provenance: Marcel de Merre (bookplate to first flyleaf). An outstanding, wide-margined and completely untouched copy. ----

EXCEPTIONALLY RARE SECOND EDITION OF PASCAL'S PENSÉES, IN PART ORIGINAL, AND PROBABLY THE FINEST COPY KNOWN, RULED IN RED AND IN A FINE CONTEMPORARY BINDING. In fact, this copy in terms of binding in the style of Augustin Du Seuil and red ruling throughout is very similar to the Garden Ltd. copy of the first edition sold at Sotheby's London in 2001 (GBP 135,250, lot 117). Wheras the first edition is rather common on the market, the second edition is quite rare with only three copies recorded at auction in the past 50 years, including our copy sold at Sotheby's Paris in 2007 for EUR 19,800.
Pascal's Pensées, originally published posthumously in 1670, is the greatest work of one of the outstanding French thinkers of the seventeenth century. Despite being composed largely of notes and fragments jotted down 'a mesure qu'el les lui venoient dans l'esprit' in preparation for a treatise which he did not live to complete, it is a major exercise in Christian apologetics. "They are certainly not a mere defense of [Christian] orthodoxy, nor an appeal to faith from one whose scientific attainments had brought with them a fear of scepticism; even less are they concealed free-thinking ... It is impossible to elevate the disconnected reflexions of the Pensées into a system, or a complete answer to other systems. The reader will find questions asked and unanswered which take him far beyond the age-old controversy between faith and religion, and an equally penetrating light cast on some relatively minor problem. Pascal's work has, in fact, the marks of genius, exploring and stating all that can be said on both sides of the question it investigates. Since these are notes, and unfinished, conclusions are not always reached. ... It is, however, a book for which the enquiring mind has had solid reason to be grateful from its first imperfect publication to the present day" [PMM].
Maroquin rouge, décor à la Du Seuil, dos à nerfs orné aux petits fers, tranches dorées sur marbrure, plats encadrés de filets dorés et fleurons aux angles, roulette dorée sur les coupes et les chasses. Exemplaire réglé. Reliure de l'époque. Tres bel exemplaire. Edition en partie originale. Provient de la vente de la Librairie Marcel de Merre, Paris juin 2007 (lot no. 45). De nombreuses pensées paraissent dans cette édition pour la première fois, accompagnées du texte Qu'il y a des démonstrations d'une autre espèce, également en édition originale. Le Discours de Filleau de La Chaise Sur les pensées de M. Pascal Où l'on essaye de faire voir quel estoit son dessein, est en deuxième édition. L'ensemble correspond à la description donnée par Tchemerzine, V, p.74.
References: Tchemerzine V, p. 74.T; Maire, IV, Pascal Philosophe, No. 19, 20, 21; PMM 152 (1st ed); H.J. Martin (1987) 'Guillaume Desprez, libraire de Pascal et de Port-Royal', reprinted in his Le livre.

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