Alexander von HUMBOLDT
Cosmos, essais d'une description physique du monde[Cosmos: A Sketch of a Physical Description of the Universe]
Gide et Baudry éditeurs|Paris 1855-1859|14 x 22 cm|5 volumes brochés
First edition of the French translation (cf. Sabin, 33726 (original edition). Humboldt Library, 4696.)
Complete text, without the Atlas, which was published many years later (1867) and is frequently lacking.
Tears and small marginal losses to some leaves, spine of the second volume split, slight splitting at head and tail of the other volumes, foot of the spine of the first volume restored, some minor foxing.
First complete French edition, translated by H. Faye, of this seminal work by one of the greatest scholars and explorers of the nineteenth century; a masterful synthesis through which Alexander von Humboldt founded physical geography (P. Rousseau, Hist. de la scienc
€2,500
