DESCARTES.

ex libris XIXe manuscrit au titre Auville au centre de la page de titre

An extremely rare first edition of Descartes’s seminal work.

A cornerstone of rationalism, this work marks the dawn of modern Western thought.

Unlike most of his other works, which he wrote and published in Latin, Descartes, recognising the importance and necessity of his essay, wrote and published his Discourse directly in French, keen for it to be understood and read by all.

The 1637 Maire edition is therefore a genuine first edition and bears its original title, which was altered in later editions.

Richly illustrated throughout with 161 black-and-white engravings, including 7 full-page plates: diagrams, figures or astronomical phenomena, scientific machines or instruments, calculations and perspective effects.

Provenance: 19th-century handwritten bookplate bearing the title ‘Auville’ in the centre of the title page.

Our copy is presented here with its companion volume, a French original by the philosopher, forming a rare, intellectually coherent set of two volumes, bound in the same manner and curiously bearing the same title label, which gives no hint of the contents.

-The Principles of Philosophy, Written in Latin… And Translated into French by One of His Friends. Paris, Pierre Des-Hayes, published by Henry Le Gras, 1647. French first edition. (2) ff (engraved title and title page)-(29) ff.- 486 pp., errata, 20 black etched folding plates. Light brown half-morocco from the first half of the 19th century, smooth spine decorated with romantic gilt ironwork and fleurons, gilt scrolls, marbled edges, title label and volume number, unusual marbled paper on the covers (a few faint water stains on the sides of several quires, some oxidation on the sides of the book, without damage to the paper, binding slightly rubbed on the spine, a rubbed stain on the title page),

Provenance: Handwritten ex libris bearing the title ‘Auville’ in the centre of the title page. [Toucheleif?] in what appears to be 18th-century handwriting at the top of the title page. The copy bears a handwritten ex dono, from the first half or mid-19th century, affixed opposite the title page, echoing the handwritten ‘Auville’ bookplate on the two volumes and a handwritten note slipped into the book referring to a dinner invitation and a fine ‘gigot’, very elegantly written: the previous owner of the Descartes works had given them to this Mr Auville, and these individuals seemed to know one another and socialise to the extent of dining together. It seems plausible that it was this Mr Auville who had the volumes bound. Several pages contain pencil notes on the text and mathematical notes on the blank pages at the end, appearing to date from the second half of the 19th century, perhaps in the hand of the new owner, Auville.