Voltaire

1744 · réf. 38273 — A Londres but Paris no printer 1744. Small 8vo. Contemp. full mottled calf raised bands richly gilt back. Previous owners stamp on tp. Engraved portrait Newton engraved titlevignette VIII5-121-232209-4714 pp. The text is complete and continous despite the odd pagination. Having 8 engraved plates 1 folding and many textengravings. A few leaves with contemporary marginal notes. Internally fine and clean. Second or third edition a contrefacon not printed in London but in Paris. "Voltaires's importence for the history of science lies particularly in his having composed a famous popularization of Newton Élemens de la philosophie de Nrwton 1738 while also collaborating with his companion and mistress Émilie marquise de Chatelet on her translation of the Principia into French and more generally in his having referred with the lightness of touch that made him a serious critic of the human condition his moral philosophy to what he took to be Newtonian and hence a correct account of physical reality." DSB XIV:p.83 The work has been called one of the most beautifull illustrated scientific works at all.- This edition not in Gray's Bibliography. hardcover