Great Discoveries

The most complete collective edition ever published, expanded, reorganized and corrected by the author himself as he explains in the Notice on this new edition. This edition therefore contains works not yet published. Maupertuis specifies that it is a selection of his best works. Title pages in red and black. This edition would be reprinted in 1768 by the same publisher. A frontispiece portrait painted by Tournière and engraved by Dallé representing the author in his travel attire for Lapland. A map of the meridian arc in volume II. Numerous mathematical diagrams in volume IV.

Contemporary full marbled brown sheep bindings. Raised band spines with ornament. Red morocco title labels and volume labels. Headcaps worn, very worn at head. Title label of volume I partly lacking. Joints of volume II partly narrowly cracked. 10 corners bumped. Bookplates scraped from pastedowns.

Details of the works: Volume I: Essay on cosmology. Discourse on the different figures of the stars. Essay on moral philosophy. Philosophical reflections on the origin of languages. Volume II: Physical Venus. System of nature. Letters. Letter on the progress of sciences. Volume III: Elements of geography. Account of the voyage made to the polar circle. Account of a voyage to the depths of Lapland. Letter on the comet of 1742. Academic discourses. Dissertation on the different means men have used to express their ideas. Volume IV: Harmony of the different laws of nature. Nautical astronomy. Discourse on the parallax of the moon. Operations to determine the figure of the earth...

An illustrious scientist of the French Enlightenment, and a divergent mind compared to the prevailing discourse of French science, Maupertuis's sagacity was exercised in several scientific fields: natural sciences (his hypotheses are very close to natural selection and transformism), biology and genetics of which he was a shrewd precursor, astronomy, with the adoption of Newtonian principles including universal attraction against Descartes's theory of vortices prevalent in France, mathematics, with the principle of least action of which he was one of the first discoverers, cosmology where his voyage to Lapland and the pole proved him right against Cassini (the earth being indeed flatter at the poles)...

First French edition and the first translation into the vernacular, following the original Latin text published in the Elementa physiologica in eight volumes between 1757 and 1766. Copy with unidentified arms, bearing angular ermine spots on the covers. The Rohan or Rohan Chabot families affixed only the emblems or charges of their heraldry to their books, but we have been unable to identify a family behind the use of ermine spots, as these occur in too many coats of arms.

Contemporary full mottled calf bindings. Spines gilt in compartments with thistle tools. Red morocco title- and volume-labels, gilt-tooled. Gilt roll at foot. Triple gilt fillet border on covers with angular ermine spots. Geometric roll on turn-ins. Speckled edges. Three corners rubbed. Traces of wear to joints and edges. One endpaper lacking in vol. I. A handsome, well-preserved copy.

First edition illustrated with two title vignettes designed by Picart.

19th-century black Bradel binding in full boards. Orange calf title labels. Small rubbing to headcap. Handsome copy.

A major work on generation and embryology, in which one discovers the hypothesis of chromosomes as well as that of environmental influence. Bonnet perfects his thesis according to which every being exists previously in germ form in nature, thus the embryo already exists in the seminal fluid, and generation is merely the simple development of the germ, which, from small, develops through nutrition; the germ already containing everything that will be developed. Although Bonnet develops the extensions and consequences of this fundamental postulate, this in no way prevents him from penetrating the mysteries of embryology and fertilization. The germ thesis seeming a middle ground between spontaneous generation and procreation, it appears a solution to the theoretical impasse to which spontaneous generation leads, contradicted by observations, in which Bonnet possesses great finesse. Bonnet is not only interested in mammals but extensively in plants and earthworms.

Librairie Alain Brieux label.

First French edition, illustrated with 3 folding plates containing numerous figures.

Contemporary marbled blonde calf binding. Spine with raised bands, decorated. Red morocco title label. Two small restorations to upper cover. Handsome copy.

Fundamental work on the theory of generation. The conclusions reached by Spallanzani precede those of Pasteur by nearly a century. He notably refutes the theory of spontaneous generation; it is while working on the refutation of this famous concept that Spallanzani discovers the role of spermatozoa and ovaries in mammals, through his observations on external reproduction in frogs; he will moreover be the first to perform artificial insemination in a female dog. The author also demonstrates regeneration in lizards. Senebier translated most of Spallanzani's works into French; he was also a scientist.

First edition, quite rare; a counterfeit edition appeared on the same date in Amsterdam.

Contemporary full glazed and marbled blonde calf binding. Decorated smooth spines. Red morocco title and volume labels. A small lack at head of volume I. Five corners slightly bumped. Rubbing. Good copy.

Without doubt Bonnet's most ambitious and remarkable study which earned him the designation of father of modern biology. This work of theoretical biology drawing its source from multi-disciplinary reflection and its postulate from Leibniz (the immortality of the soul) claims that the Earth periodically suffers universal catastrophes which destroy almost all life and that the survivors each time rise one degree on the evolutionary scale. Bonnet was the first to use the term evolution in a biological context. The work also prefigures experimental psychology. There would exist in each being germs which pre-exist it and ensure the survival of the species, Bonnet's thesis announcing the theories and discoveries of genes. It was blindness that in Bonnet put a stop to experimentation and engaged him on the path of philosophical reflection.

First edition, rare and valuable.
Contemporary full brown sheep binding. Spine with raised bands, gilt tooling. Binding with some surface wear. Losses to the joints at headcap and to the upper joint at tail. One corner rubbed.

Contemporary brown sheep, spine in compartments, headpiece and one corner repaired, wormtrack to middle of upper margin, a few insignificant wormholes. The final engraving is shaved and lacking the last lines of text from the legend. A very good copy.

Du Verney's first work; he was renowned for his knowledge of anatomy and physiology, was tutor to the Dauphin and taught in the Botanical Gardens.

This is the first scientific monograph on the structure of the ear and its illnesses, and is therefore very significant. It played a determining role in the understanding of this organ, whose study had been until then much neglected. Stamp of Doctor Maurice Petit of Montereau.

New and improved enlarged edition (partly original), illustrated with a frontispiece, 12 unsigned figures, and 6 title vignettes (the title pages are entirely engraved). A fine printing. The original 1770 edition comprised only 3 volumes in-12.
Contemporary full mottled calf bindings. Smooth spines decorated with floral tools and multiple gilt rolls. Triple gilt fillet framing on covers. Blue sprinkled edges. Slight surface wear to the covers. A few wormholes to the joints, and some worming in the margin of volume I. Despite these minor flaws, a handsome, well-bound and fresh copy.

First edition of the French translation by Camus with the Greek text facing.

Contemporary marbled full calf bindings. Smooth spines decorated with two grotesque compartments and two stamps, fillets and rolls. Red morocco title labels and black morocco volume labels. Headcap of volume I worn. Rubbing.

Camus's translation is highly esteemed, though it concerns only the first volume, the second gathering notes and observations on modern natural history. Camus further establishes the importance of Aristotle's work and its influence on natural history bibliography. There is an interesting table allowing one to locate animals in Aristotle, in Greek, Latin and French. This second part is highly erudite and contains numerous references to other works, describing in situ each animal found in Aristotle's treatise.