Overview Page

I’ve created this site to share what I’ve uncovered in a long-term study of the cultural dissemination of a single English book: John Florio’s translation of Montaigne’s Essays. First printed in London in 1603, this unabridged rendition was twice republished in the seventeenth century — in 1613 and 1632 — and the three census files I’ve compiled represent an attempt to locate and describe all extant copies of these early editions. At present I can verify the existence of 429 such copies. Most of these are held in institutional libraries, and I’ve personally examined 333 of them in 161 locations. But there are undoubtedly other copies, perhaps many others, in private hands.

It was not until 1885, two and a half centuries after the edition of 1632, that Florio’s translation was published again. Several other English versions of Montaigne had appeared in the meantime, most notably that of Charles Cotton, but the late Victorian period and the early twentieth century saw a tremendous surge of interest in Florio’s rendition, no doubt in part because of the rapid growth of Shakespearean scholarship. My “Editions” file offers an account (with timeline) of the full publication history of Florio’s translation, including an effort to assess the comparative value of different editions, some of which are distinctly superior to others. I also describe English translations of Montaigne besides those of Florio and Cotton; several of these are available only in manuscript.

Finally, I’ve prepared a bibliography entitled “Montaigne in England and in English.” Focusing primarily on relations between the thought of Montaigne and the literary and philosophical cultures of early modern Britain, this bibliography pays attention not only to Florio’s translation but to (a) discussions of epistemological skepticism as it manifested itself in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England, and (b) critical commentary on intertextual relations between Montaigne, Shakespeare, and other early modern British poets, playwrights, essayists, and philosophers. In some cases I provide brief annotations following individual citations.

I’ve given each copy of the three seventeenth-century editions of Florio’s Montaigne a unique identifier, the “FM code,” which can be used in references or citations, and which will not change. Some of these identifiers will seem oddly located in my copy listings, since individual copies occasionally find new homes, and previously-unrecorded copies occasionally surface. FM identifiers beginning with the letter “A” refer to the edition of 1603; those beginning with “B” refer to the edition of 1613, and those with “C” to the edition of 1632. Although privately-owned copies are difficult to trace, I’m nonetheless interested in tracing them to the best of my ability, relying on auction records, booksellers’ catalogues, and correspondence with collectors and rare book dealers.

Complete digital facsimiles are available for nine of the 429 copies I’ve thus far verified (five copies of 1603, one of 1613, and three of 1632). Several of these are high-quality, open-access, color facsimiles (A47, A51, A97, C56, C137). I’ve also included the Gallica copy of 1603 at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (A40), along with the copies photographed in the 1960s by University Microfilms, Inc., that were later repurposed for Early English Books Online (A7, B7, C138). The Folger Shakespeare Library and the Beinecke Library at Yale have uploaded selected images from some of their copies of Florio’s Montaigne (e.g., A60, A61, A63, A115); other libraries may have done the same. Please notify me if you learn of any additional digital facsimiles or collections of digital images.

I’ve taken more than 50,000 photographs while examining copies of Florio’s Montaigne at libraries in the UK, Ireland, France, Canada, and the US, but in most cases I’ve signed forms that prohibit me from using these photos for purposes other than private research, so I’ve refrained from uploading any of them here. However, given that my accounts of provenance and manuscript annotation frequently refer to these photos, I’m happy to answer specific questions and share specific images when appropriate. I've also uploaded a few photos of characteristic watermarks in the copies of Florio's translation held at my home institution, Washington State University (A106, B102, C154).

This website borrows its basic design and methodology from the ongoing Shakespeare Census created by Adam G. Hooks and Zachary Lesser. It has also benefitted enormously from the thoughtful attention and technical expertise of Rob Carson, creator of the Marlowe Census. Please cite it as follows:

Florio’s Montaigne: Editions, Census, Bibliography. Ed. William M. Hamlin. Created 2025. Accessed 09 September 2026. <http://www.florios-montaigne.org>.

I welcome questions, corrections, contributions, and any information regarding digitized facsimiles or hitherto undocumented seventeenth-century copies of Florio’s translation. Please contact me by email:

whamlin@wsu.edu

Created by William M. Hamlin, with thanks to Rob Carson, Scott Enderle, Adam G. Hooks, Louis Hopkins, and Zachary Lesser for their groundbreaking labor in designing sites of this sort. I also thank the David G. Pollart Center for Arts & Humanities at Washington State University, which supported my work on this project during the 2024–2025 academic year. Additional support has been provided by the J. S. Guggenheim Foundation (2008–2009), the Everett Helm Fellowship Fund at Indiana University’s Lilly Rare Book Library (2016), and the Charles Abbott Fellowship Fund at the State University of New York at Buffalo (2025).

Dedicated to the memory of Peter Mack (1955–2023)

Launched: 6 September 2025

Last updated: 5 September 2026