Pascal Blaise

1658 · réf. 307 — Leiden Netherlands alias: Coloniae: Jean Elzevir alias: Apud Nicolaum Schouten 1658. First Latin Edition. Contemporary mottled full calf. Very Good. First Latin edition published and translated from the original French anonymously for fear of reprisal from the Catholic Church and the king of France. IMPORTANCE AND IMPACT The Lettres provinciales Provincial Letters are a series of eighteen polemical letters written by Pascal under the pseudonym Louis de Montalte. In these letters Pascal humorously attacked casuistry a rhetorical method of questionable logic often used by Jesuit theologians and accused Jesuits of moral laxity. The final letter from Pascal in 1657 had defied the Pope himself provoking Alexander VII to condemn the letters. The reaction to the Lettres provinciales was substantial. Pascal's use of wit humor and mockery in attacking existing institutions made his work extremely popular. However its publication was primarily via the underground press and in 1660 Louis XIV of France banned the book and ordered it shredded and burned. The Church banned it by placing on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. Pascal himself had to enter clandestinity living in cheap hostels. Moreover even Pope Alexander while publicly opposing them nonetheless was persuaded by Pascal's arguments. Just a few years later 1665–66 and then 1679 Alexander condemned "laxity" in the church and ordered a revision of casuistic texts. Condition: Very Good. Complete. Full Title Translated: LUDOVICI MONTALTUS PROVINCIAL LETTERS from the Morality & Politics of Jesuit discipline. By Wilhelm Wendrock a theologian from Salzburg translated from French into Latin and illustrated with theological notes in which both the accusations of the Jesuits against Montalto are repelled and the principal topics of moral theology are vindicated from the corruptions of the new casuists BOOK INFO Published in 1658 in Leiden Netherlands by Jean Elzevir of the famed Dutch publishing powerhouse anonymously as Apud Nicolaum Schouten in Coloniae. First Latin edition. Translated into Latin from French by Pierre Nicole as "Willem Wendrockius" and as "Paulus Irenaeus". Bound in its contemporary mottled full calf. Spine with raised bands separating compartments richly tooled and ruled in gilt. All edges speckled red. Octavo 7.5" x 4.75". Collated and complete: 32 608 pp. Woodcut printer device on title page. Woodcut head- and tail pieces and decorated initials. CONDITION REPORT The book is in Very Good antiquarian condition. Exterior and Binding: Soiling and some white staining to boards. Joints starting to split near the spine tips but binding is holding firm. Chips to leather at spine tips. Rubbed extremities worn and bumped corners. Top edge darkened per usual. Interior: Pages are generally lightly toned browning in some sections. Light scattered foxing. Title page with partially erased antiquarian ink writing with a small hole from the scrubbing effort. Evidence of bookplate removal on front pastedown. Former owner name in ink on front pastedown and antique writing in French on verso of FFEP. Grubbiness to title page and endpapers. Signs of light handling like some creases and smudges some light marginal water spotting on occasion. 17th century bookplate of Francois Hemart on rear pastedown. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Blaise Pascal 1623 – 1662 was a French mathematician physicist inventor philosopher and Catholic writer. Pascal was a child prodigy. His earliest mathematical work was on projective geometry; he wrote a significant treatise on the subject of conic sections at the age of 16. He later corresponded with Pierre de Fermat on probability theory strongly influencing the development of modern economics and social science. In 1642 he started some pioneering work on calculating machines called Pascal's calculators and later Pascalines establishing him as one of the first two inventors of the mechanical calculator. Like his contemporary René Descartes Pascal was also a pioneer in the natural and applied sciences. Pascal wrote in defense of the scientific method and produced several controversial writings.He made important contributions to the study of fluids and clarified the concepts of pressure and vacuum by generalising the work of Evangelista Torricelli. The SI unit for pressure is named for Pascal. Following Torricelli and Galileo Galilei in 1647 he rebutted the likes of Aristotle and Descartes who insisted that nature abhors a vacuum. He is also credited as the inventor of modern public transportation having established the carrosses à cinq sols a system of publicly available coaches the first modern public transport service shortly before his death in 1662. PROVENANCE From the estate of Francois Hemart. Hermart settled in Champagne France in the early 17th century. He is primarily remembered through the Champagne house Henri Giraud which produces a grand cu cuvee named Hommage a Francois Hemart in his honor. Jean Elzevir (alias: Apud Nicolaum Schouten) unknown