Pleiade has Russian Jewish origins....

There is nothing in British publishing quite like the Bibliotheque de la Pleiade. It was brought into being by an enterprising Russian immigrant called Jacques Schiffrin in 1931 as a collection of convenient and attractive editions of classic authors with flexible leather covers and spines decorated with real gold. The text was printed on bible paper, which being very thin and long-lasting, stood in contrast to the uncut acid paper in cheap bindings used by most French publishers of literary works. When Schriffin ran into financial difficulties in 1933, Andre Gide and Jean Schlumberger of the Nouvelle Revue Francaise persuaded Gallimard to take over the collection. The initial editions were presented without scholarly apparatus and with brief prefaces; they looked very much like the products of a luxury book club aimed at the well-to-do cultivated general reader.

from Self-portrait with sigilla
Ian MacLean

a review of LES ESSAIS. Edited by Jean Balsamo, Michel Magnien and Catherine Magnien Simonin. By Michel de Montaigne. 1,975pp. Gallimard. Euro 79. - 978 2 07 011505 1.

PORTRAITS A L'ESSAI Iconographie de Montaigne. Philippe Desan; with Beatrice Le Cour Grandmaison. 349pp. Honore Champion. Euro 149. - 978 2 745 31615 8.

ALBUM MONTAIGNE. Jean Lacouture. 286pp. Gallimard. - 978 2 07 011829 8.