Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x24gv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-10T02:14:16.113Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Montaigne Monopoly: Revising the Essais under the French Privilege System

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2020

George Hoffmann
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Does the business of writing shape the works of even the most private authors? A demonstration that one of the major figures of French literature was influenced throughout his career by Renaissance publishing policy might clarify the relation of professional demands to individual genius. The way Montaigne expanded and enlarged his book from edition to edition, one of the most salient features of his writing, has been variously attributed to biographical and philosophical causes—that is, to sources in his creative energy. The historical records, however, suggest that Montaigne's revision of his Essais was inspired also by the need to reestablish ownership over a work that was about to fall into the public domain. Legislation from the period reveals that publishers regularly released revised editions to renew their privileges (short-term bookselling monopolies). (GH)

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 108 , Issue 2 , March 1993 , pp. 308 - 319
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Works Cited

Allen, Percy Stafford, and Allen, Helen Mary, eds Erasmus: Opus Epistolarum. Vol. 5. Oxford: Clarendon-Oxford UP, 1924.Google Scholar
Armstrong, Elizabeth Before Copyright: The French Book-Privilege System, 1498-1526. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1990.Google Scholar
Blum, Claude “Ecrire le ‘moi’: ‘J'adjouste, mais je ne corrige pas.‘” Montaigne 1580-1980: Actes du colloque international. Ed. Tetel, Marcel. Paris: Nizet, 1983. 36–53.Google Scholar
Bouchel, Laurent Receuil des statuts et règlements des marchands libraires, imprimeurs et relieurs de la ville de Paris. Paris: Julliot, 1620.Google Scholar
Breton, André “Préface à la réimpression du manifeste.” Manifestes du surréalisme. Paris: Gallimard, 1973. 7–9.Google Scholar
Cabrol, B “Epistre apologétique.” Seconde partie des Erreurs populaires. By Laurent Joubert. Paris: Breyer, 1580. A5v–B6r.Google Scholar
Chabé, A.-A “Le Pimandre de Mercure Trismegistre … Un contrat de libraire de Bordeaux.” Bulletin de la Société des Bibliophiles de Guyenne 48 (1948): 93–102.Google Scholar
Chartier, Roger L'ordre des livres: Lecteurs, auteurs, bibliothèques en Europe entre XIVe et XVIIIe siècle. Aix-en-Provence: Alinéa, 1992.Google Scholar
Compagnon, Antoine Nous, Michel de Montaigne. Paris: Seuil, 1980.Google Scholar
Cotgrave, Randle A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues. London: Islip, 1611. New York: Da Capo, 1971.Google Scholar
Desan, Philippe “Marie de Gournay, préface de 1635.” Montaigne Studies 2.2 (1990): 58–67.Google Scholar
Desgraves, Louis Elie Vinet, humaniste de Bordeaux, 1509-1587. Geneva: Droz, 1977.Google Scholar
Edelman, Bernard “Le droit d'auteur, produit commercial comme les autres.” Le monde diplomatique July 1990: 32.Google Scholar
Erasmus, Desiderius Adagia. Basel: Froben, 1520.Google Scholar
Erasmus, Desiderius Catalogus. Basel: Froben, 1524.Google Scholar
Fontanon, A Les édits et ordonnances des rois de France. 3 vols. Paris, 1611.Google Scholar
Frame, Donald, éd. and trans The Complete Works of Montaigne. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1948.Google Scholar
Friedrich, Hugo Montaigne. Trans. Rovini, R. Paris: Gallimard, 1968.Google Scholar
Gabler, Hans Walter, Ed. Ulysses, : A Critical and Synoptic Edition. By James Joyce. 3 vols. New York: Garland, 1984.Google Scholar
Gabler, Hans Walter, ed Ulysses: The Corrected Text. By James Joyce. New York: Random, 1986.Google Scholar
Gastambide, M Historique et théorie de la propriété des auteurs. Paris: Cosse, 1862.Google Scholar
Gray, Floyd La balance de Montaigne: Exagium/essai. Paris: Nizet, 1982.Google Scholar
Guilleminot-Chrétien, Geneviève “Le contróle de l'édition en France dans les années 1560: La genèse de Pédit de Moulins.” Le Uwe dans l'Europe de la Renaissance. Ed. Aquilon, P. and Martin, H.-J. Paris: Promodis, 1988. 378–37.Google Scholar
Haeghen, Haeghen Ferdinand van Bibliographie des oeuvres d'Erasme. Vol. 1. Gand: Bibliothèque de l'Université de l'Etat, 1897.Google Scholar
Holroyd, M., and Jobson, S. “Copyrights and Wrongs: D. H. Lawrence.” Times Literary Supplement 3 Sept. 1982: 943–94.Google Scholar
Huguet, Edmond Dictionnaire de la langue française du seizième siècle. 6 vols. Paris: Champion, 1928–32; Didier, 1946–67.Google Scholar
Isambert, F. A., et al Receuil général des anciennes lois françaises. Paris: Belin-le-Prieur, 1821–18.Google Scholar
Kidd, John “The Scandal of Ulysses.” New York Review of Books 30 June 1988: 32–39.Google Scholar
Kilmartin, Terence, trans Remembrance of Things Past. By Marcel Proust. London: Chatto, 1981.Google Scholar
Laumonier, P Tableau chronologique des oeuvres de Ronsard. Paris: Hachette, 1911.Google Scholar
Magne, E Bibliographie générale des oeuvres de Scarron. Paris: Leclerc, 1924.Google Scholar
Martin, H.-J Livre, pouvoirs et société à Paris au XVIIe siècle, 1598–1701. Vol. 1. Geneva: Droz, 1969.Google Scholar
Maugis, E “L'histoire de la censure des livres et de l'imprimerie par le Parlement au XVIe siècle.” Histoire du Parlement de Paris. Vol. 2. Paris: Picard, 1914. 310–31.Google Scholar
Montaigne, Michel de Les essais…. Bordeaux: Millanges, 1580.Google Scholar
Montaigne, Michel de Les essais…. Paris: L'Angelier, 1588.Google Scholar
Montaigne, Michel de Les essais…. Paris: L'Angelier, 1595.Google Scholar
Montaigne, Michel de Les essais…. Ed. Villey, P. and Saulnier, V.-L. Paris: PUF, 1965.Google Scholar
Montaigne, Michel de Les essais…. Hand-corrected copy of 1588 ed. Bibliothèque Municipale de Bordeaux, Bordeaux.Google Scholar
Mynors, Mynors Roger Aubrey, trans The Correspondence of Erasmus: Letters 1252 to 1355, 1522 to 1523. Annotated by J. M. Estes. Toronto: Toronto UP, 1989. Vol. 9 of The Collected Works of Erasmus.Google Scholar
Parent-Charron, A Les métiers du livre à Paris au XVIesiècle, 1536–1560. Geneva: Droz, 1974.Google Scholar
Pasquier, Etienne Recherches de la France. Paris: Sonnius, 1611.Google Scholar
Regosin, Richard “Montaigne between the Lines: Reading the Interstices, 1580, 1588, 1595.” Le parcours des Essais, Montaigne 1588–1988. Ed. Tetel, Marcel and Masters, G. Mallary. Paris: Aux Amateurs de Livres, 1989. 47–57.Google Scholar
Rendall, Steven “Montaigne and the Principle of Noncorrection.” Le parcours des Essais, Montaigne 1588–1988. Ed. Tetel, Marcel and Masters, G. Mallary. Paris: Aux Amateurs de Livres, 1989. 253–25.Google Scholar
Renouard, Augustin-Charles Traité des droits d'auteurs. Vol. 1. Paris: Renouard, 1838.Google Scholar
Rhenanus, Beatus Auctores Historae Ecclesiasticae. Basel: Froben, 1523.Google Scholar
Rigolot, François “Marie de Gournay: Préface à l'édition des Essais de Montaigne.” Montaigne Studies 1.1 (1989): 8–60.Google Scholar
Saugrain, Claude-Marin Code de la librairie et imprimerie de Paris … avec les anciennes ordonnances…. Paris, 1744.Google Scholar
Shattuck, Roger “Kilmartin's Way.” New York Review of Books 25 June 1981: 16–20.Google Scholar
Simonin, M “Les contrefaçons lyonnaises de Montaigne et Ronsard au temps de la Ligue.” Les presses grises. Paris: Aux Amateurs de Livres, 1989. 139–13.Google Scholar
Strömholm, Stig Le droit moral de l'auteur en droit allemand, français et Scandinave. Vol. 1. Stockholm: Norstedt, 1966.Google Scholar
Tanselle, G. Thomas “The Editorial Problem of Final Authorial Intention.” Selected Studies in Bibliography. Charlottesville: UP of Virginia, 1979. 309–30.Google Scholar
Terreaux, Louis Ronsard, correcteur de ses Œuvres. Geneva: Droz, 1968.Google Scholar
Tournon, André Montaigne: La glose et l'essai. Lyon: PU de Lyon, 1983.Google Scholar
Vaganay, H “Essai bibliographique.” L'Astrée: Nouvelle édition. By Honoré d'Urfé. Ed. Vaganay. Vol. 5. Lyon: Masson, 1928. 551–55.Google Scholar
Viala, Alain Naissance de l‘écrivain: Sociologie de la littérature à l‘âge classique. Paris: Minuit, 1985.Google Scholar
Villey, Pierre Les Essais de Montaigne. Paris: Nizet, n.d. Zeller, Hans. “A New Approach to the Critical Constitution of Literary Texts.” Studies in Bibliography 28 (1975): 231–23.Google Scholar