La Rochefoucauld's Maximes Through the Lens of the 1765 Centenary Edition Belonging Mathieu Dumas

The year 1765 marked a century since the first publication of François de La Rochefoucauld’s Maxims, a collection of terse, piercing aphorisms on human nature that had become a classic of French literature. In Paris, the bookseller Chez Pissot issued a new edition of Les Pensées, Maximes et Réflexions morales to commemorate this 100th anniversary. This paper examines a particular 1765 edition, acquired into the collection on April 15 2025, in detail. It explores the historical context of its publication, the background and significance of La Rochefoucauld and his Maximes, and information about the publisher Pissot. It also delves into the provenance of the specific copy shown in the provided images, notably its ownership by General Mathieu Dumas, as indicated by his personal label, and discusses the elaborate marbled “snail” paper used for its endpapers and edges, a distinguished French bookbinding art of the 18th-century. Through these sections, insight into both the intellectual heritage of the work and the material culture of 18th-century books will be gained.