Abstract

Explores the life and mental world of one of the first recorded readers of Leviathan: Pierre de Cardonnel, whose annotated copy of the book records that it was given to him by the Earl of Devonshire in 1652. Putting together evidence from many archival sources, it offers a full picture of de Cardonnel's life in Caen, Southampton, London, and Paris, and analyses the response to the arguments of Leviathan expressed in de Cardonnel's marginal comments on it.