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Interestingly, there still is no complete scholarly edition of the Essays, because he published three different versions during his lifetime (to stay ahead of c

Interestingly, there still is no complete scholarly edition of the Essays, because he published three different versions during his lifetime (to stay ahead of copyright expiration), and he made so many additions and changes between editions that it's practically impossible to represent them all on paper. What we need is an online digital edition, and nobody's done that yet AFAIK.

wazoox 3y ago
There is a "last edition", the so-called Bordeaux exemplary, with annotations from Montaigne's hand; then there is a later, posthumous edition which is the basis for most modern ones, but has been modified by his family on some important points (in particular politically or religiously sensitive ones). Arguably this "last edition" is the best one: https://www.puf.com/content/Les_Essais_Livres_I-III https://www.puf.com/content/Les_Essais_Livres_I-III You can also go with "La Pléïade" version, however it's based upon the posthumous version, and in typical Pléïade's fashion, punctuation is altered/modernised from the ancient versions. I've read both and my advice is to go with the first, cheaper one :)
briga 3y ago
My complete Penguin edition notes all the different changes between versions. It’s rather ungainly to read though. The changes between versions are rarely that extensive, usually just some different phrasing here and there
- ksenzee 3y ago
  I guarantee it does not include all the changes between versions. It would be impossible to read. I chose an essay pretty much at random for a prototype digital edition in 2002, and it was eyebrow-raising how many differences there are among the three primary versions.
kwhitefoot 3y ago
> to stay ahead of copyright expiration Could you elaborate on that? I thought copyright was a much more recent idea.
- ksenzee 3y ago
  It dates to not long after the printing press was invented, but it was a much shorter period. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/pmla/article/abs/montaigne-monopoly-revising-the-essais-under-the-french-privilege-system/AF9EF83AF9D5773D235DC1502F37FB2E https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/pmla/article/abs/mon...
  - kwhitefoot 3y ago
    Not really the same. Those were privileges granted one book at a time. As far as I can tell the Act of Anne was the first law describing the modern concept of copyright as a right not a privilege.
efficax 3y ago
it's true that the Essays was published in three versions by Montaigne over his life but they did not have copyright regulations until much later (in the 18th century) and there are a number of critical and scholarly editions the Essays...
xhevahir 3y ago
The Donald Frame translation I read a long time ago had numbers or letters marking the different editions within the text. I didn't study the essays carefully enough to say how useful these were but they were there.
Aidevah 3y ago
I think the French Pléiade edition is a scholarly/critical edition? Montaigne himself said that the main changes between editions are additions. From On Vanity (Penguin translation): >I make additions but not corrections: firstly, that is because when a man has mortgaged his book to the world I find it reasonable that he should no longer have any rights over it. Let him put it better elsewhere if he can, not corrupt the work he has already sold. From such folk you should buy nothing until they are dead. Let them do their thinking properly before they publish. Who is making them hurry? My book is ever one: except that, to avoid the purchaser’s going away quite empty-handed when a new edition is brought out, I allow myself, since it is merely a piece of badly joined marquetry, to tack on some additional ornaments. That is no more than a little extra thrown in, which does not damn the original version but does lend some particular value to each subsequent one through some ambitious bit of precision. From this there can easily arise however some transposition of the chronological order, my tales finding their place not always by age but by opportuneness. Although I agree that a digital edition that allows you to toggle between the different editions would be a wonderful idea. Charles Rosen talked at length about the inadequacies of the Pléiade edition in this regard in his review[1]. [1] https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2008/02/14/the-genius-of-montaigne/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2008/02/14/the-genius-of-mo...
- ksenzee 3y ago
  Right. I did a prototype digital edition of one of the Essays for my master's thesis 20 years ago, and it was surprising how much interesting stuff was just plain missing from the standard editions. I would have expected some Montaigne scholar to have published at least a partial digital edition by now. If it's not been done by the time I retire, I'll be tempted to do it myself.
rramadass 3y ago
You should checkout Michel De Montaigne The Complete Works: Essays, Travel Journal, Letters published under Everyman's Library Classics (hardcover edition).
billfruit 3y ago
Is that the case? The M.A Screetch translation published by Penguin seems to be just that, with copious annotations, notes, scholarly apparatus and indications of the multiple versions of the text in parentheses.
- ksenzee 3y ago
  The Screech translation is excellent but it's a translation, not an edition, and it's not based on a complete critical edition because there was none in 1991 when the translation was published.

wazoox 3y ago

There is a "last edition", the so-called Bordeaux exemplary, with annotations from Montaigne's hand; then there is a later, posthumous edition which is the basis for most modern ones, but has been modified by his family on some important points (in particular politically or religiously sensitive ones). Arguably this "last edition" is the best one: https://www.puf.com/content/Les_Essais_Livres_I-III https://www.puf.com/content/Les_Essais_Livres_I-III You can also go with "La Pléïade" version, however it's based upon the posthumous version, and in typical Pléïade's fashion, punctuation is altered/modernised from the ancient versions. I've read both and my advice is to go with the first, cheaper one :)

briga 3y ago

My complete Penguin edition notes all the different changes between versions. It’s rather ungainly to read though. The changes between versions are rarely that extensive, usually just some different phrasing here and there

ksenzee 3y ago
I guarantee it does not include all the changes between versions. It would be impossible to read. I chose an essay pretty much at random for a prototype digital edition in 2002, and it was eyebrow-raising how many differences there are among the three primary versions.

kwhitefoot 3y ago

> to stay ahead of copyright expiration Could you elaborate on that? I thought copyright was a much more recent idea.

ksenzee 3y ago
It dates to not long after the printing press was invented, but it was a much shorter period. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/pmla/article/abs/montaigne-monopoly-revising-the-essais-under-the-french-privilege-system/AF9EF83AF9D5773D235DC1502F37FB2E https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/pmla/article/abs/mon...
- kwhitefoot 3y ago
  Not really the same. Those were privileges granted one book at a time. As far as I can tell the Act of Anne was the first law describing the modern concept of copyright as a right not a privilege.

efficax 3y ago

it's true that the Essays was published in three versions by Montaigne over his life but they did not have copyright regulations until much later (in the 18th century) and there are a number of critical and scholarly editions the Essays...

xhevahir 3y ago

The Donald Frame translation I read a long time ago had numbers or letters marking the different editions within the text. I didn't study the essays carefully enough to say how useful these were but they were there.

Aidevah 3y ago

I think the French Pléiade edition is a scholarly/critical edition? Montaigne himself said that the main changes between editions are additions. From On Vanity (Penguin translation): >I make additions but not corrections: firstly, that is because when a man has mortgaged his book to the world I find it reasonable that he should no longer have any rights over it. Let him put it better elsewhere if he can, not corrupt the work he has already sold. From such folk you should buy nothing until they are dead. Let them do their thinking properly before they publish. Who is making them hurry? My book is ever one: except that, to avoid the purchaser’s going away quite empty-handed when a new edition is brought out, I allow myself, since it is merely a piece of badly joined marquetry, to tack on some additional ornaments. That is no more than a little extra thrown in, which does not damn the original version but does lend some particular value to each subsequent one through some ambitious bit of precision. From this there can easily arise however some transposition of the chronological order, my tales finding their place not always by age but by opportuneness. Although I agree that a digital edition that allows you to toggle between the different editions would be a wonderful idea. Charles Rosen talked at length about the inadequacies of the Pléiade edition in this regard in his review[1]. [1] https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2008/02/14/the-genius-of-montaigne/ https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2008/02/14/the-genius-of-mo...

ksenzee 3y ago
Right. I did a prototype digital edition of one of the Essays for my master's thesis 20 years ago, and it was surprising how much interesting stuff was just plain missing from the standard editions. I would have expected some Montaigne scholar to have published at least a partial digital edition by now. If it's not been done by the time I retire, I'll be tempted to do it myself.

rramadass 3y ago

You should checkout Michel De Montaigne The Complete Works: Essays, Travel Journal, Letters published under Everyman's Library Classics (hardcover edition).

billfruit 3y ago

Is that the case? The M.A Screetch translation published by Penguin seems to be just that, with copious annotations, notes, scholarly apparatus and indications of the multiple versions of the text in parentheses.

ksenzee 3y ago
The Screech translation is excellent but it's a translation, not an edition, and it's not based on a complete critical edition because there was none in 1991 when the translation was published.