Montesquieu

1903 · 014FR2 — Imprimerie Paul Brodard Coulommiers for Hachette et Cie Paris: 1892-1903. 1903 Three Volumes. 12 mo. Contemporary French bindings leather backed marbled boards with vellum tips. Volume one slightly foxed. Vols. II-III browned. "Montesquieu 1689-1755 one of the most important of French jurists and political philosophers. He was Councillor 1714 of the Parlement of Bordeaux and its President 1716-28 after the death of an uncle whom he succeeded in both title and office. He gained a seat in the French Academy in 1728. His Persian Letters 1721 brought him immediate fame. In these letters supposedly written by Persian travelers in Europe and by their friends he satirized and criticized French institutions. In 1734 he produced a scientific historical study of the rise and fall of Rome 'Considerations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains et de leur decadence.' His greatest work The Spirit of Laws 1748 appears at the beginning of this collection. It is a comparative study of three types of government - republic monarchy and despotism and shows a lot of influence taken from John Locke. Its main theories are that climate and circumstances determine the form of governments and that the powers of government should be separated and balanced in order to guarantee the freedom of the individual. Written with brilliance of style it had great historical importance and influenced the formation of the American Constitution" - Cambridge Encyclopedia. FR5 Language: eng. Hardcover. Very Good. (Imprimerie Paul Brodard, Coulommiers for) Hachette et Cie, Paris: 1892-1903. hardcover