Michel de Montaigne begins his magisterial The Essais by telling his readers that he, himself, is the matter of his book. He says that he has written himself so

The documents in this collection trace the course of the Renaissance in Italy and northern Europe, describing the emergence of a vibrant and varied intellectual

The Essays of Michel de Montaigne (1877) is a collection of essays and letters by Michel de Montaigne. Originally published in French as Essais (1580), this edi