First edition, rare, illustrated with 5 folding plates at the end.
Contemporary full marbled brown calf binding. Spine with raised bands, gilt tooling. Beige morocco title-piece. One corner trimmed, the others rubbed. A tiny 2 mm tear at head of spine. A small worm gallery in the lower margin from the title-page to p. 24, slight at the beginning, widening and then fading out. A good, rather clean copy.
Red stamp on half-title and title-page, with the arms: Bibliothèque Chapuys-Montlaville
Early autograph letter signed by the young leading man Yves Montand, addressed to Marcel Duhamel regarding Marcel Carné’s film Les Portes de la nuit. One and a half pages written in blue ink on ruled paper. Fold marks from mailing and two punch holes in the left margin, not affecting the text.
Unpublished, this letter was read on France Culture during the program « La Boîte à lettres » in November 2014.
French first edition, translated by Baron d'Holbach.
Contemporary full brown glazed and marbled calf binding. Smooth spine decorated. Garnet morocco title label. Headcaps, joints, edges and corners restored. Browning to margins of title page.
Bookplate, Library of Henri Tardivi.
Major work by the German chemist Stahl, who developed the famous phlogistic theory, which dominated chemistry until the end of the 18th century. Stahl himself had borrowed the notion from his master Becker. Although this theory was invalidated by Lavoisier, it was very important because for the first time in history, a principle unified all of chemistry. In his theory of salts, the author applies his theory to a new element, the axiom of phlogistic theory being the affinity of similar bodies.
First edition.
Half brown shagreen binding ca 1860. Jansenist spine with raised bands. Gilt title. Rubbing to corners. Good copy.
Treatise on animal magnetism by a disciple of Mesmer. Demonstrations and proofs. The work concludes with considerations on the movement by the Marquis de Chastellux.
Second edition statement, after the first published in 1762, with 14 folding tables (most copies announcing only 13). 4 pages of catalogue in fine. Author's preface for this new corrected and expanded edition.
Contemporary full marbled brown sheep binding. Raised band spine with ornaments. Red morocco title label, black morocco volume label. Headcap of volume I torn off, damage to that of volume II. A lack at the tail of volume II. Corners very blunted and stripped. Set very rubbed.
Red stamp on title page: Bibliothèque de M. Héricart de Thury, Conseiller d'état.
Treatise on mineralogy based on Wallerius's system and Linné's classification, with the mechanical properties and uses of each mineral, a geography of minerals, a vocabulary and a lexicon. One of the first systematic mineralogy handbooks.
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 edition, illustrated with 4 very attractive headpieces by Pronk, 4 tailpieces and 13 folding plates on polyps. Armorial copy with the arms stamped on the spine (ermines and macles) of the Rohan-Chabot family. The armorial bindings of the Rohan and Rohan-Chabot families have the distinctive feature of bearing the heraldic devices exclusively on the spine.
Contemporary full blonde calf binding. Spine with raised bands decorated with crowned ermines and macles. Joints entirely cracked. Headcaps worn. Corners slightly bumped from rubbing. Occasional minor worming, final plates with upper margin soiled.
It was in these memoirs that Tremblay discovered the hydra, or hydra, a freshwater polyp which he observed for several years while serving as tutor to the son of a count who owned a property with ponds and streams. He meticulously recounts his observations and experiments with a particularly enlightened mind. After initially taking the hydra for a plant, Tremblay understood that he was dealing with an animal, capable of moving with its tentacles (the horns), and which is photosensitive, instinctively directing itself toward the most luminous point. Through multiple and intelligent experiments, he established that the hydra has the power of regeneration through cell division, and finally that the hydra can reproduce asexually. Tremblay's studies found resonance among his contemporaries, but quickly fell into oblivion, certainly because they competed with those of Réaumur. Modern zoology has rehabilitated the importance of his work and the quality of his experiments.
New edition, illustrated with 14 plates, most folding.
Contemporary full brown marbled calf binding. Decorated spine with raised bands. Red morocco title label, and black wax volume label. 2 corners slightly bumped. Rubbing. Good copy.
Notable articles in each of the mentioned sections include: Experiments to determine if the strength of ropes exceeds the sum of the strengths of the threads composing these same ropes, by M. de Réaumur. Observations on the vegetation of truffles, by M. Geoffroy. Observations on fecal matter, by M. Homberg. Remarks on certain colors, by M. de La Hire. Rules and remarks for the construction of equalities, by M. Rolle. On different ways in which several species of sea animals attach themselves to sand, by M. de Réaumur. New experiments on the dilation of air, by M. Maraldi. Description of a new purple dye, by M. de Réaumur. Observations on the structure & use of the principal parts of flowers, by M. Geoffroy. Description of the flowers and seeds of various succulents, by M. de Réaumur. Various astronomical observations.
Illustrated edition with 16 folding plates, 8 per volume.
Contemporary full marbled brown calf bindings. Raised band spines with gilt ornaments. Red morocco title-labels, and black wax volume labels. Small lack to head of volume I. One corner slightly bumped. Rubbing. Last errata leaf frayed at margin. Good copies.
Notable articles to be retained in each of the mentioned sections include the following: On beam resistance by M. Parent. On conchoids in general by M. de La Hire. Observations on coral analysis by M. Geoffroy. Reflections on magnetic variations by M. Houssaye. General method for finding an infinity of new curved lines by M. Réaumur. Physical explanation of the vertical and natural direction of plants by M. de La Hire. Method for describing large arcs of conic sections, by M. de La Hire. Conjectures on the position of the island of Meroë, by M. Delisle. Numerous astronomical observations by Cassini, Maraldi...
