DESCARTES, RENÉ
Le monde de Mr. Descartes, ou Le traite de la lumiere et des autres principaux objets des sens. Avec un Discours de l'action des corps, & un autre des fievres, composez selon les principes du meme auteur.
8vo (leaf mm 164), 3 parts in 1 vol., contemp. dark brown calf (some rubbed, corners restored and spine skillfully renewed and gilt in style of the time, with gold title), sprinkled edges, light browning inside for the quality of the paper, but a good clean copy. Pp. [16], 260, 31, [1 blank], [4], 5-30, [2 orig. blanks] with 34 woodcut illustrations. The fullpage illustration to pp. 231 have been a few trimmed on the outer margin, just on the border of the woodcut, without loss. Edizione contemporanea alla prima stampata nello stesso anno sempre a Parigi, e pubblicata postuma dall'allievo Claude Clerselier, poiché D. in vita non volle editarla a causa della condanna subita da Galileo da parte dell'Inquisizione. One of the issues (very possibly the 2nd) in the year of the 1st edition of this important posthumously published work, which, like the "Traite de l'homme", was actually written in the 1630's, but due to Galilei's condemnation not published before the 1660's. It gives an account of cosmogony and cosmology as products simply of matter in motion, making the laws of motion the ultimate "laws of nature" and all scientific explanation ultimately mechanistic. Descartes establishes his laws of motion and the theory of the lack of void or empty space in nature. Having established these, he can fully explain the nature of light, and he gives us the 12 properties of the behaviour of light, all based on his belief that light travels instantaneously (since nature is without void). Guibert 211-212. Goldsmith (BL London) D-405. BN Paris (1). Cp. Krivatsy 3133 (Girad issue).
Paris, Michel Bobin & Nicolas le Gras 1664
€ 2.300,00
