Gournay’s Gift: A Special Presentation Copy of the 1595 Essais of Montaigne

O'Brien, John

doi:10.1080/0268117x.2014.974068

Gournay’s Gift: A Special Presentation Copy of the 1595 Essais of Montaigne

O'Brien, John

Authors

Professor John O'Brien john.o'brien@durham.ac.uk
Emeritus Professor

Abstract

A remarkable copy of the 1595 Essais of Montaigne at Maynooth offers a particularly full set of corrigenda in the hand of Marie de Gournay. Her many textual improvements are tabulated and their significance discussed. At the same time, this copy also carries an extensive manuscript emendation by Gournay to a crucial passage in Chapter II.17 of the Essais, as well as her handwritten inscription to a certain Beringhen. The dedicatee is identified as Henri de Beringhen and it is argued that Gournay’s corrections and inscriptions date from the early 1620s when she attended the salon of Beringhen’s aunt, Madame des Loges. The Maynooth copy as a whole provides a critical insight into the social and literary circles in which Gournay moved at the time as well as supplying further evidence of her continuing editorial work on the Essais in the framework of her own career.

Citation

O'Brien, J. (2014). Gournay’s Gift: A Special Presentation Copy of the 1595 Essais of Montaigne. The Seventeenth Century, 29(4), 317-336. https://doi.org/10.1080/0268117x.2014.974068

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Sep 29, 2014
Online Publication Date	Nov 3, 2014
Publication Date	Nov 3, 2014
Deposit Date	Dec 9, 2016
Publicly Available Date	Apr 4, 2018
Journal	Seventeenth Century
Print ISSN	0268-117X
Electronic ISSN	2050-4616
Publisher	Taylor and Francis Group
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	29
Issue	4
Pages	317-336
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1080/0268117x.2014.974068

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Copyright Statement
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in The seventeenth century on 303/11/2014, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/0268117X.2014.974068