[Pensées].

first edition of the second English translation

The first edition of this English-language translation of French polymath Blaise Pascal's (1623-1662) Pensées, the second English language edition overall.

These fragments are all that survive of this vast apology for Christianity conceived of by Pascal several years prior to his death in 1662. They represent a thorough investigation into all aspects of human nature, explaining the 'vicissitudes of human experience entirely in terms of faith and revelation, the one justifying the other' (PMM). Their publication was undertaken by a group of leading Jansenists at the behest of Pascal's nephew, Etienne Perier and his family, with text altered as a result of ecclesiastical censorship.

First edition of the second English translation; 8vo (19 x 12 cm); text in English, continuous despite erratic pagination, ownership inscription in pen to title upper-margin, later 18th/19th-century annotations in pen to margins and some underlining, bookbinder's ticket to front pastedown, horizontal tear to final f. 2C4 repaired to verso, the odd mark, otherwise internally clean; 19th-century purple crushed morocco by Galwey & Co. of Dublin, pine lettered and tooled n gilt, all edges gilt, spine very slightly faded, covers lightly marked, very good or better; [2], lviii, [12], 352, 361-376, 369-392pp.

ESTC T144329; Bowyer ledgers D49; cf.PMM 152.