L'Homme de René Descartes. Et un traitté de la formation du foetus du mesme autheur

[The Man of René Descartes. And a treatise on the formation of the foetus by the same author].
Chez Jacques Le Gras, à Paris 1664, 4-to (18 x 24cm), (70 p.) 448 pp. (8 p.), bound.

The true first edition. The privilege is shared between several publishers: Charles Angot, Jacques and Nicolas Le Gras and Théodore Girard. A Latin translation had been published in Leiden in 1662 by Florent Schuyl (1619-1669), from a poor copy of the text, according to the preface by Claude Clerselier (1614-1684), who had the original Descartes manuscript.
Illustrated with 49 figures of optics and anatomy by MM. de Gutschoven and de La Forge, marked “G” or “F” depending on the illustrator.
Contemporary binding in full brown calf. Skillfully restored upper spine-end, joints and corners. The name of a former owner has been cut out of the title page and filled with a piece of paper, very discreet wormholes in the margin of certain leaves at the beginning and at the end of the volume, light water stain not affecting the text at the end of the volume.
This Traité de l'Homme was conceived by Descartes in accordance with the precepts of his Discours de la méthode: starting from his own anatomical knowledge, he explains the different human physiological functions and the mechanical laws that govern them. The work had considerable influence on materialism during the following century, as well as on 18th and 19th century medicine.