Exposition du système du monde

Quarto (1) leaf for the portrait, VII pp., 457 pp.
Long-grained red morocco, covers decorated with multiple frames of straight and dotted fillets and garlands with gilt designs featuring grotesques and gilt cherubs, gilt-stamped coat of arms in the center, smooth spine divided into compartments by gilt fillets and adorned with gilt designs, decorated edges, gilt inner dentelle, blue tabis endpapers and doublures, gilt edges. Armorial binding of the period.

252 x 194 mm.

Laplace, Pierre-Simon de. Exposition of the System of the World, by Count Laplace…
Paris, Veuve Courcier, 1813.

Partly original edition featuring a development on the order and stability of the universe not present in earlier editions.

It is in this 1813 edition that the cosmogonic hypothesis is fully developed.

Engraved portrait of the author as frontispiece.

Pierre-Simon de Laplace (1749-1827) was one of the greatest and most influential scientists of the Napoleonic era. He contributed decisively to the emergence of mathematical astronomy.

In the Exposition of the System of the World, first published in 1796, Laplace presented for the first time his entire system in a form accessible to non-scientists.

“The Exposition of the System of the World,” says Arago, “is Celestial Mechanics stripped of that great array of analytical formulas through which every astronomer must indispensably pass… It is here that those unfamiliar with mathematics will gain an exact and sufficient idea of the spirit of the methods to which physical astronomy owes its astonishing progress.”

“Starting with this edition (1813) appears a development on the order and stability of the universe not present in earlier editions… It is in this last edition that the cosmogonic hypothesis is fully developed ” (J. Merleau Ponty, “Situation and Role of Laplace’s Cosmological Hypothesis,” in Revue d'histoire des sciences, January 1976, pp. 21-49).

Superb and precious copy preserved in its magnificent morocco binding with Talleyrand's coat of arms, from his library.

Provenance: from the library of the Château de Valençay, property of Prince de Talleyrand.

Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754-1838) was ordained a priest in 1779, and was appointed in 1788 as Bishop of Autun. He renounced the priesthood and left the clergy during the Revolution.

In 1791, assisted by Laplace, Monge, Condorcet, Lavoisier, and La Harpe, he wrote an important report on public education. Deputy to the Estates General under the Ancien Régime, he became president of the National Assembly and ambassador during the French Revolution, Minister of Foreign Relations under the Directory, Consulate, and then the First Empire, president of the Provisional Government, ambassador, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and president of the Council of Ministers under the Restoration, and ambassador under the July Monarchy.