Pierre-Louis Moreau de MAUPERTUIS — Les oeuvres de Mr. de Maupertuis

A philosopher as well as a scientist | George Conrad Walther | Dresde 1752 | 18.2 x 24 cm | Relié | Edition originale collective des oeuvres de l'auteur (cf Quérard, V, 642. DSB, IX, 186-189. Voir Poggendorff I, 85.) Imprimé à Dresde, Chez George Conrad Walther ["Imprimé à Leipsic, chez Jean Gottlob Immanuel Breitkopf"] Reliure en plein veau fauve marbré, dos à cinq nerfs orné de caissons décorés de fleurons dorés, pièce de titre de maroquin rouge, mors restaurés, gardes et contreplats de papier à la cuve, tranches rouges, reliure de l'époque.  Quelques rousseurs, restaurations sur les mors, les coupes ainsi qu'en angles des plats. Première édition des "Oeuvres" de Maupertuis. Les pages 95 à 142 contiennent la "Mesure de la terre au Cercle Polaire". Les pages 311 à 326 renferment la "Relation d'un Voyage fait dans la Lapponie septentrionale pour trouver un ancien monument". Sur Maupertuis, voir la longue notice de Bentley Glass dans DSB : "A philosopher as well as a scientist, Maupertuis proved himself a powerful and original thinker in Essai de Cosmologie (1750). According to A.O. Lovejoy, he anticipated Beccaria and Bentham and, along with Helvétius, represents "the headwaters of the important stream of utilitarian influence which became so broad and sweeping a current through the work of the Benthamites" (…) He rejected the favorite eighteenth-century argument in favor of God - the argument from design - and instead, like Hume, he formulated a view of adaptation based on the elimination of the unfit. He recognized that Newton's laws are insufficient to explain chemestry, and even more so life, and turned to Leinbiz for ideas about the properties of consciousness". Ex-libris manuscrit sur la première garde : "Claude Wendell Horton". | [ENGLISH DESCRIPTION FOLLOWS] First collected edition of the author's works (see Quérard, V, 642; DSB, IX, 186–189; Poggendorff I, 85).Printed in Dresden by George Conrad Walther ["Printed in Leipsic by Jean Gottlob Immanuel Breitkopf"]Full mottled fawn calf, spine with five raised bands richly gilt in compartments with floral tools, red morocco label, joints restored, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, red edges; contemporary binding.Some occasional foxing; restorations to the joints, edges and corners of the boards.First edition of the "Works" of Maupertuis. Pages 95 to 142 contain the "Mesure de la terre au Cercle Polaire"; pages 311 to 326 feature the "Relation d'un Voyage fait dans la Lapponie septentrionale pour trouver un ancien monument".On Maupertuis, see the extensive entry by Bentley Glass in the DSB: "A philosopher as well as a scientist, Maupertuis proved himself a powerful and original thinker in Essai de Cosmologie (1750). According to A.O. Lovejoy, he anticipated Beccaria and Bentham and, along with Helvétius, represents 'the headwaters of the important stream of utilitarian influence which became so broad and sweeping a current through the work of the Benthamites' (…) He rejected the favorite eighteenth-century argument in favor of God - the argument from design - and instead, like Hume, he formulated a view of adaptation based on the elimination of the unfit. He recognized that Newton's laws are insufficient to explain chemestry, and even more so life, and turned to Leinbiz for ideas about the properties of consciousness".Contemporary manuscript ex-libris on the front flyleaf: "Claude Wendell Horton". *