Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle; William Gardiner — Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds

London, A. Bettesworth; E. Curll, 1715 . First edition. Leather. The very scarce first William Gardiner English language translation of Fontenelle's important early work of astronomy, which speculates on the possibility of extra-terrestrial life. First published in French in 1686, this is the very scarce first English language translation of this work from William Gardiner.Illustrated with a frontispiece.ESTC T137582A6, B-I12. Collated, complete.Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle expresses support for cosmic pluralism and discusses the topic of astrobiology in this work, while also speculating on the existence of Venusians as a species of extra-terrestrial life.It helped popularise the theories of Rene Descartes and Nicolas Copernicus, taught through constructive conversations between a philosopher and a Marquise. In a full calf binding. Loss to back strip tail. Joints starting, rear board firmly held, and front board just a touch tender. Internally, firmly bound. Pages lightly age toned due to paper type, but generally clean and bright, with the odd handling mark and light tide marks to perimeters of six leaves towards the rear. Good . Ill.: Not Stated. Good .