A Publication History of the Rival Transcriptions of Montaigne's "Essays"

This publication history is based on a peculiar historic event: the systematic recopying or transcription of Montaigne's extensive marginal notes by secretaries, librarians and palaeographers in the last years of the 19th century at the Bordeaux City Library. Those transcriptions proved to be in the necessary condition for the publication (from 1906-1933) of the first critical editions of Montaigne's complete "Essays". It is also, indirectly, a case study of how a literary bureaucracy treats subaltern personnel like sub-librarians and palaeographers and how it construes their intellectual property rights. This study offers a commentary on a group of letters revealing a very different culture, one both impaired and enriched by notions of duty, honour and high formality. For students of Montaigne, it gives insight into the "Essays'" reception, scholarly management and marketing.