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The Montesquieu manuscripts have become an object of study per se over the last twenty years. Their characteristics, and in particular their dating, have fuelled a crucial debate in relation to critical editions. New light has been cast on Montesquieu’s method as writer – philosopher, thanks to Chabannes’s dating (several hundreds of documents transferred to the municipal library at Bordeaux in 1994). The date of several of his manuscripts ( Pensées, Collectio juris, Spicilège) has now radically changed thanks to a close investigation and scrutiny of his papers as well as a finer understanding of his biography: his working method in the works mentioned can now be given fresh consideration.