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Three large quarto volumes, printed on fine Dutch laid paper.
First printing of the remarkable illustration by B. Picart composed of 6 magnificent plates inset including the allegorical frontispiece to volume 1 with the effigy of Fontanelle. The illustration also includes 2 fleurons on the titles and 174 vignettes and culs-de-lampe by B. Picart” (Cohen).
“Beautiful edition adorned with many headers and the most remarkable culs-de-lampe”
(Bulletin Morgand and Fatout).
The edition contains the major works of Fontenelle: the Dialogues of the dead, the Talks on the plurality of worlds, The History of the oracles, The eulogy of the members of the Academy of Sciences of which Fontenelle (1657-1757) was the secretary perpetual between 1699 and 1737.
Fontenelle, who lived to be 100 years old, enjoyed great success during his lifetime and made the transition between the 17th and 18th centuries more completely than Fénelon.
“He imposed himself by the certainty and diversity of his knowledge, and by the calm feeling he had of the progress of the modern world; like Voltaire a century later with Newton, he introduced into the mentality of his time the new vision of the world resulting from the discoveries of Copernicus and Descartes. When the quarrel between the Ancients and the Moderns broke out, Fontenelle sided with the Moderns. He affirms the superiority of his contemporaries over Homer, Plato, Demosthenes because, he says, "being mounted on their shoulders we see further than them" (Dictionary of Authors).
Ref. Chemerzin/Scheler III:332. - Brunet II:1332. - CP. Cohen 407.
Author: Fontenelle (Bernard Le Bovier de).
Title: Miscellaneous Works of M. de Fontenelle, of the Académie Françoise. New edition, increased & enriched with engraved figures.
Publisher: La Haye, Gosse & Neaulme, 1728-1729.
3 volumes in 3 folio volumes of: I/ (5) ff., 376 pp., (1) f. for the frontispiece and 3 figures; II/ (4) off., 440 pp. and 1 face; III/ (3) off., 434 pp. and 1 figure. Complete
Binders in glazed tawny calfskin, ribbed spine, two pieces in red morocco and pomegranate decoration with small gilt irons.
Condition: Wet copy sold as is (see photos). In volumes 2 and 3 beginning of mold in the foot margin.
Subject: Original edition Fontenelle works illustrated by Bernard Picart le Romain 1728 3/3 in -4
67350357
