MONTESQUIEU, CHARLES DE SECONDAT
De l'Esprit des Loix ou du rapport que les loix doivent avoir avec la constitution de chaque gouvernement, les moeurs, le climat, la religion, le commerce, &c. à quoi l'auteur a ajouté des recherches nouvelles sur les Loix Romaines touchant les successions, sur les Loix Françoises, & sur les Loix féodales. Geneva: Barillot [sic], & Fils, n.d. [but actually Paris: Prault, January 1749]. Second edition, the first issue of the first counterfeit edition (also the first edition printed in France), issued by Prault in Paris early in 1749. Two volumes, contemporary mottled calf, red edges, marbled endpapers, felt-lined slipcase. 10 x 7 1/2 inches (25 x 19 cm); [8 --including half-title], xxiv, 522 pp., 1 p errata, verso blank; [iv--half title, verso blank, title, verso blank], xvi, 564 pp. Joints cracking, some rubbing and wear, some soiling and foxing, minor foxing and staining but generally a clean copy internally.

This edition is distinguished from the first by the misspelling of the publisher's name (correctly Barrilot, the presence of the errata leaf in the first volume, and a slight difference in the rules at the foot of the title). The true first edition was the preceding year, and is exceptionally rare. This is a crucial work on political philosophy and jurisprudence, and Montesquieu's theories gave an intellectual underpinning to the French and American revolutions, and his belief in the separation of judicial power from executive and legislative power is central to the United States Constitution. PMM 197 (first edition); Tchemerzine VIII, p. 460.