Corneille de PAUW

PAW Corneille de
Recherches philosophiques sur les Américains, ou Mémoires intéressants pour servir à l'histoire humaine
N. n., Berlin 1771, in-8 (18,7 x 12 cm), 326 (24 of table) pp., 366 (30 of table) pp., 247 pp., 3 volumes, original wrappers
The second edition of the first two volumes and the first edition of the third, which contains Pernety's defense of the Americans and a refutation of Paw. Brunet, 28465.
Contemporary blue wrappers, titled in red and black. Very good copy.
The work consists in a primarily ethnographic discussion of the American continent. It contains a curious account of hermaphrodites in Florida and the practice of circumcision and infibulation. Paw emphasizes several times the inferiority of the indigenous American population and includes several articles on African Americans, Native Americans, and Central America, but also a great deal on geographical, climatic, botanical and naturalistic considerations.
Paw was a Dutch philosopher and scholar who contributed to the Encyclopedia. Lacks to foot of spines, tables unopened.