VAUVENARGUES Introduction to the knowledge of... Lot 23

VAUVENARGUES] Introduction to the knowledge of the human mind followed by reflections and maxims. Antoine-Claude Briasson, Paris, 1746. In-12 contemporary marbled calf, spine ribbed and decorated. 10 unnumbered introductory leaves, 384 pages and 1 errata leaf. First edition of this book written by one of the greatest French moralists in the line of Montaigne, La Rochefoucauld and La Bruyère. A fine copy, complete with the errata page which is often missing. The most famous work of this young Christian philosopher, who died at the age of 32, before being able to give all that could be expected from his so high, so pure and so liberal talent. It was to Vauvenargues, a beginner in literature, that Voltaire, already illustrious and much older than him, said, after having expressed his sympathies to him highly: "If you had been born a few years earlier, my works would be worth more. Unknown during his lifetime, Vauvenargues (1715-1747) had to wait until the 19th century to be appreciated at his true value, notably by Stendhal who, along with Chamfort, made him his bedside author, never ceasing to read, annotate and meditate on him. Le Petit, 529. Tchémerzine, X-456.