30 - PASCAL (Blaise). *Les Provinciales*, or *Letters Written by Louis de Montalte to a Provincial Among His Friends, and to the Reverend Fathers of the Society of Jesus, on the Subject of the Morality and Politics of These Fathers*. Cologne: Pierre de la Vallée, 1657. In-4, brown Laval morocco, with ribbed spine, wide internal tooth, untrimmed (Trautz-Bauzonnet).

PASCAL (Blaise). *Les Provinciales*, or *Letters Written by Louis de Montalte to a Provincial Among His Friends, and to the Reverend Fathers of the Society of Jesus, on the Subject of the Morality and Politics of These Fathers*. Cologne: Pierre de la Vallée, 1657. In-4, brown Laval morocco, with ribbed spine, wide internal tooth, untrimmed (Trautz-Bauzonnet). FIRST EDITION OF THE 18 PROVINCIAL LETTERS, printed clandestinely in 1656 and 1657. A PRECIOUS, UNIQUE COPY, FROM THE LIBRARY OF THE PUBLISHER ANT.-AUG. RENOUARD, containing all the letters and accompanying documents entirely untrimmed and enriched, in the margins and on interleaved pages, with a large number of annotations in Renouard’s own hand, who noted all the variations introduced by Pascal in the immediate reprints of the Letters compared to their original editions. Renouard highlights the great significance of this work in a lengthy preliminary note from which we excerpt the following lines: (I thought) that it might be interesting and instructive to see how such a great master of the art of writing had himself revised and corrected his own work. This copy, in addition to the 18 original letters, contains: 1. The reprints, published the same year, of letters 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 17. 2. The Jesuits’ replies to letters 11, 12, 13, and 15. 3. Various decrees, factums, and censures, a list of which follows. Decrees of the Roman Inquisition against the book entitled *Apology for the Casuists*, etc. From the copy printed in Rome, 1659, 4 pp. — Factum for the parish priests of Rouen, 12 pp. — Decree by Alphonse d’Elbène, Bishop of Orléans, 1658, 3 pp. - Censorship of a book titled *Apology by the Casuists, etc.* issued by His Excellency the Archbishop of Sens, L. Prussurot, 1658, 23 pp. - Response to the Letters Published by the Jansenists Against the Jesuits, 16 pp. - To Mr. ***, known as Louis de Montalte, author of the *Provinciales*. Rhymed verses, 2 ff. At the end of the volume are two autograph letters from Prosper Faugère, the learned editor of Pascal, thanking Renouard for lending him his “precious copy” of the *Provinciales* and providing him with bibliographic details on the first editions of this book. Renouard enclosed with these letters a copy of the reply—full of excellent information—that he sent to Faugère. Two portraits of Pascal, drawn and engraved by Saint-Aubin and published by Renouard, have been added to this exceptional copy. - SAINT-AUBIN’S ORIGINAL DRAWING for this portrait. - Another portrait of Pascal, engraved in reduced size after Larmessin. - The portrait of Du Verger de Haubane, engraved by Moncornet, with full margins, featuring a handwritten note from the period, and a portrait of the same subject, engraved by Desrochers after Ph. de Champagne, 1701. - A fine portrait of Antoine Arnauld, engraved at the time. This precious volume, bearing Renouard’s bookplate, subsequently belonged to Mr. Basse (bookplate); at the auction of this collector of Pascal’s books in 1876, it sold for 3,600 francs plus fees; it was subsequently listed in the *Bulletin Morgand* (November 1890, No. 19069) and was included in a sale titled “Unique Selection of Antique Books” on June 12, 1925 (Maître Giard, Mr. Andrieux, appraiser).