The Spirit of the Laws

Montesquieu anonymously publishes De l'esprit des lois

A book now inseparable from Montesquieu's name first appeared without his name on it — and so error-ridden that he had to send corrections in batches.

1748: two volumes out of Geneva, unsigned

Montesquieu's De l'esprit des loix appeared anonymously in Geneva in 1748, issued in two volumes by Barrillot & Fils. The author was a French magistrate whose name the publication did not carry.

The first edition's title page is undated; library catalogues supply [1748]. Specialist accounts place its appearance around late October or November, but no exact release day is securely established.

What the thousand-odd pages argued

The work tied laws and political institutions to governmental, moral, economic, physical and geographic conditions, instead of treating laws in isolation. Volume I ran to 522 pages and Volume II to 564, before preliminaries.

Publication went through Geneva, outside the ordinary French publishing and censorship system, with the Genevan pastor Jacob Vernet acting as intermediary with the printer.

Corrections, then editions

The first edition contained numerous textual errors. Montesquieu subsequently sent corrections, and a revised authorized Paris edition followed in 1749.

The book drew praise and criticism quickly, generated unauthorized and error-filled reprints, and had gone through fifteen editions by 1757 — nine years after it first appeared.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 6 sources 2 audit passes

How this was checked

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What the sources leave uncertain

The first edition’s title page is undated; library catalogues supply [1748]. Specialist accounts place its appearance around late October or November, but an exact release day is not securely established.