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

Keffer (French and German, Centre College, Danville, Kentucky) explores the history of scholars' parsing of Montaign's hand-written texts of the Essays . He focuses on such persistent questions as why it took three centuries for scholars to rediscover and transcribe Montaign's annotated Essays , why it took almost a half century to complete the critical editions and finish the transcriptions, and the meaning of the rivalry between the critical editions during the period around 1906. Examples are shown throughout of Montaign's written text. An appendix presents archival letters and other relevant documents, all in French. Lacks a subject index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)