L'Homme de Rene Descartes et un Traitte de la Formation du Foetus (Man by Rene Descartes with a treatise on the formation of the foetus)

DESCARTES, Rene

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Titre : L'Homme de Rene Descartes et un Traitte de ...

Éditeur : Charles Angot

Date d'édition : 1664

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Edition : FIRST FRENCH EDITION

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TP + [i]-[v] = Epistre + [vii]-[lxviii] = Preface + 1-448 + [449]-[455] = Table + [456] = Fautes, Quarto. First French Edition. Guibert IV, p. 309. PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.Both of these posthumously published works were written in 1634. At least two biographers have suggested (while admitting the impossibility of verification) that Descartes concern with the mechanics of man and generation was, at that time, an 'experimental' outgrowth of the affair with his mistress, Helen, who conceived and delivered to him a daughter, Francine, in that same year. (Vrooman, p. 148) Interesting, we can not only blame Queen Christina of Sweden for Descartes untimely death on February 11, 1650 but also for the survival of these manuscripts. "Desirous of seeing his work set forth in a complete and systematic way, she made him promise to put his unpublished writings in order. He had arrived in Stockholm with a box of manuscripts, mostly unfinished fragments, all in great confusion. Amid this mass of material were two important treatises on Man and The Formation of the Foetus, which were later published together, mostly through the efforts of Clerselier." (Vrooman, p. 239) The first section of the book (pp. 1-107) is the first French edition of Descartes L'Homme. Originally written in French, the work was intended as a physiological appendix to his Discours, that was published in 1637. But, in 1633, the condemnation of Galileo led Descartes to have second thoughts about publishing this work - with its mechanistic view of Man, it would surely be considered heretical - and he suppressed it along with another work, Le monde (finally published in 1664). L'Homme was not published until twelve years after his death in 1662 - in a Latin translation by Florentius Schuyl (1619-1669). The long 'Preface' was supplied by Descartes' admirer and friend, the printer, Claude Clerselier. The second section of the book (pp. 108-170) is the first edition of Descartes work on the formation of the foetus - which was not included in the 1662 printing of De homine figures, the first Latin edition of L'Homme. This section attempted to describe reproduction in mechanistic terms. The long, final section of the book (pp. 171-448) is the first edition of the extensive commentary - going page by page and even paragraph by paragraph - on L'Homme by Louis de la Forge (1632-1666), a doctor of medicine and philosopher who was a friend and a disciple of Descartes. La Forge, the editor of this edition, also redrew the many illustrations that had appeared in the 1662 and 1664 Latin editions which had been 'donated' by Florentius Schuyl based on Descartes original sketches. Bound in contemporary French sprinkled calf. Spine with five raised bands and gilt decorations and title. Expert repairs to joints and head and toe of spine. Rear cover a bit gouged in a 2" square area but overall a lovely binding. Small bookplate to inside front cover. Final blank leaf torn and missing bottom outside corner. Overall, a lovely copy of this important work of philosophy, science and medicine. PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST. N° de réf. du libraire