Les Provinciales, ou Lettres Écrites par Louis de Montalte... Nouvelle Edition
Clermont en Auvergne: Chez les Freres Lefranc, 1756. Full Leather. 12 mo. Very Good. Item #34146
Pp. viii, 448. Contemporary full calf, spines gilt to a floral motif in compartments between raised bands, gilt-lettered red label, marbled endpapers and edges. Extremities rubbed, extensive ink inscription noticeably scratched out on title, but otherwise a nice clean copy. Anonymously published in 1656-7, Pascal's series of 18 brilliant and witty letters were composed in defense of Antoine Arnauld and the Jansenists at Port-Royal, against the attacks of the Jesuits of the Sorbonne. Pascal's devastating exposure of the casuistry and moral laxity of the Jesuits, in contrast to the rigorous morality of the Jansenists, failed to save Arnauld, but did much to undermine Jesuit prestige and authority, and establish the author's literary reputation. Referring to the Provinciales as one of the works that most influenced his writing, Gibbon states that it was from Pascal he learned "to manage the weapon of grave and temperate irony, even on subjects of ecclesiastical solemnity." ( Autobiography, pp. 72-73).
Price (CAD): $150.00