Que sais-je — What do I know?'. An early edition in English of this important work of French Renaissance thought by the humanist courtier Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) which pioneered the essay-writing genre.

The Essays marked the beginning of an important shift in European thought which took place at the beginning of the seventeenth century towards a philosophical scepticism that argued against the possibility of actual knowledge in the natural sciences, ethics, and theology. Montaigne was amongst the first to shake such fundamental aspects of Western thought as the belief in the superiority of man over animals, or European civilisation over "Barbarianism" — his approach best being summed-up in the famous epithet 'Que sais-je?' ('What do I know?').

This translation was the final work which the English poet Charles Cotton (1630–1687) saw through the press. It immediately supplanted the edition by John Florio of 1603, and remained in print into the twentieth century.

Second Cotton edition in English; 3 vols; 8vo (18.5 x 12 cm); engraved portrait frontispiece to vol. I, textblock browned with occasional spotting, front hinges reinforced at gutter margin; contemporary sprinkled calf, panelled in blind, contrasting red morocco lettering-pieces to spines, joints repaired, corners bumped, headcaps chipped with minor loss, very good; [24], 555, [5]; [8], 722; [4], 559, [1]pp.

ESTC R224092, R224093 and R224094; Wing M2480/M2480A; cf.PMM 95.