Traité de la formation mechanique des langues, et des principes physiques de l'étymologie

Rare first edition, comprising 9 plates, including 3 folding plates.
Contemporary full mottled brown calf bindings. Spines with raised bands, gilt decoration. Title and volume labels in brown morocco. Blue mottled edges. A handsome copy.

Certainly the author’s most important work and the first significant scientific study on the subject; prior to this, etymology and linguistics had not yet been truly examined. With vast erudition, Charles de Brosses deduces all the phonetic consequences from a profound and systematic study of the vocal organ and of its influence on the formation of languages. One of President de Brosses’s principal theses is the belief in natural words, derived from the earliest onomatopoeias, themselves an imitation of nature, which reflect the character and beliefs of peoples. The author thus compares several languages and phonemes.