Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes
“This book was the first example of the delicate art of spreading light and grace over the abstract sciences” (Voltaire).
First edition of this major work by Fontenelle that paved the way for scientific popularization and Enlightenment literature.
Copy preserved in its contemporary binding.
Speckled calf, spine with raised bands decorated with gilt fillets and fleurons, decorated edges, mottled edges, small restored tear to the plate.Contemporary binding.
150 x 86 mm.
Fontenelle, Bernard le Bovier de. Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds.
Paris, Widow C. Blageart, 1686.
First edition of this major work by Fontenelle, which paved the way for Enlightenment literature.
Tchemerzine, III, 321; Brunet, II, 1332; Cioranescu, 30742; En Français dans le texte, 122.
It features a folding plate engraved in intaglio by Juan d'Olivar.
“To ‘instruct and entertain society people at the same time’, Fontenelle presents the latest astronomical discoveries in a charming dialogue.
A Philosopher inspired by Copernicus and Descartes converses with a young and witty Marquise about the wisdom of nature, making her dream during a few nocturnal strolls about the motions of the stars swept up in their vortices and the plurality of inhabited worlds, ‘possible worlds’, as he calls them. (...) The work’s success and influence stemmed chiefly from its critical power. The argument seems even more radical than Voltaire’s when he adopts the point of view of Sirius; for Fontenelle, it is impossible to choose an absolute point of view in the universe.” (Alain Cantillon, En Français dans le texte).
“The success of the Conversations was exceptional: thirty-three editions appeared in Fontenelle’s lifetime.” (Alain Cantillon).
Through his involvement in the controversies of the century on the side of the ‘moderns’, and by his efforts to reach a wider audience, Fontenelle appears as the first of those polygraphers who, a few years later, would be known as philosophers.
“This work, sparkling throughout with graceful wit, reveals in every remark the subtle spirit that earned its author such renown. Fontenelle often seems, by his ironic and antidogmatic wit, to anticipate Voltaire.” (Dictionnaire des Œuvres).
Copy preserved in its contemporary calf binding.
