De la philosophie de la nature ou traité de morale pour le genre humain tiré de la philosophie et fondé sur la nature. Troisième édition et la seule conforme au manuscrit original

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.

A protean work devoted to the study of man, skilfully combining in a consistently engaging manner narratives, dialogues, and plays (even quoting in full letters from 'Lettres Persanes'), with historical passages; the book pursues an unacknowledged encyclopaedic aim on the nature of man. While the first volume is strictly devoted to the philosophy of nature in history, the following volumes quickly turn entirely to the study of man (morality, religion, politics). Volume IV will be found particularly fascinating, devoted as it is to the study of nature’s monsters (wild men, fish-men, eunuchs, etc.); its bibliographical sources are of great value.
The last two volumes, examining the relationship between man and religion, immediately led to the work being condemned to the flames and its author permanently banished with confiscation of his property. He does not confine himself to the Christian religion, but addresses most of the cults then known, both of the Ancients and of his contemporaries. At the conclusion of the work stands a very severe political reflection on religion.
The author was called a "monkey of Diderot". Insofar as he borrows the same forms to achieve his purpose, perhaps so, but that was a common trait among eighteenth-century philosophers. The work is profoundly original, manifold, and if it is open to criticism, it is in its very qualities. 'De la philosophie de la nature' deserves rediscovery and rehabilitation.