Principia philosophiae [suivi de] Specimina philosophiae

Two works bound in one volume: first edition of Principia philosophiae fol­lowed by the first Latin edition of Spec­imina philosophiae. Complete with blank leaves b4 and 2Q4.

Printer's mark representing Minerva and her owl, as well as the motto “Ne extra oleas” on the title page. Numerous in-text engrav­ings.

Bound in full calf, spine with five raised bands framed in gilt, elaborately decorat­ed in gilt, gilt arms of the Society of Writers to the Signet at center of boards framed in blind, marbled endpapers, speckled edges. Library shelfmark glued to the pastedown endpaper, additional penned shelfmarks on the pastedown, and a manuscript ex-libris of the Signet Library, “Ex Lib: | Bibl: Scribar | Sig: Reg:” on the title page. Joints, spine-ends and corners restored, more foxing on the first six leaves, on the title page of the Specimina and the last four leaves of the volume. Some spots to the boards. Unusual paper defect around the author's name on the title page of Princip­ia, present in other copies (Library of Con­gress, BnF), small wormhole to the lower margin of this same page, burrowing to p. 129 of the “Specimina”. A few faded letters on 4 lines where two pages were joined together (pages 296–297).

First Latin edition of the Discourse on the Method containing the first oc­currence of the famous “cogito ergo sum”.

This Latin translation of the Discourse on the Method and its two essays, the mathematical-philosophical Dioptrique and the Meteors is the work Descartes' friend Étienne de Courcelles and revised by Descartes himself. As evidenced by the universal appeal of the cogito, this edition acts as “The first significant dissemination of the Discourse and its essays (the first 1637 French edition was a commercial failure), published at the same time as the Principia, aimed at an academic audience capable of a true reception of the work as a whole” (Frédéric de Buzon). In addition to the Discourse, the work is of particular importance for its addenda applying his cogito to various fields of science, includ­ing optics and meteorological phenome­na. His work on light refraction, vision and the phenomena of rainbows and winds, are illustrated by visually stunning in-text woodcuts depicting cloaked figures peer­ing through pinholes of camera obscura, elegantly dressed silhouettes admiring rainbows, and throws of balls illustrating the trajectory of light rays.

The Discourse is preceded by the Prin­cipia Philosophiae in first edition, from Descartes' unpublished manuscript The World or Treatise on Light, contempo­rary with Galileo's condemnation of heliocentrism. As his theory was based on the same postulate of the move­ment of the Earth around the Sun, Des­cartes preferred to delay its publication and had it published through different works. In the Principia, Descartes aims to clarify and establish a rigorous foun­dation for philosophy, envisioned as a universal science. It contains the first full description of his Vortex Theory explaining the structure and move­ment of the universe – abundantly il­lustrated with fine woodcuts showing celestial matter in constant motion, as well as striking vignettes illustrating the Earth's genesis.

Provenance: arms of the Society of Writ­ers to the Signet, association of Scottish lawyers founded at the end of the 16th century, one of the oldest professional associations in the world.

A superb copy containing the found­ing texts of modern rationalism at the origin of our scientific method.
Guibert, 118 & 104.