Details
[BAYLE, Pierre (1647-1706)]. Lettre à M.L.A.D.C. Docteur de Sorbonne. Où il est prouvé par plusieurs raisons tirées de la philosophie, & de la theologie, que les cometes ne sont point le presage d'aucun Malheur. 'Cologne: Pierre Marteau' [Rotterdam: Reinier Leers], 1682.
12° (152 x 92mm). Woodcut device on title. Manuscript correction on p.181. (Without final blank, small stain on 3 leaves.) Contemporary Dutch vellum over thin pasteboard, title written on spine and “636”.
RARE FIRST EDITION OF PIERRE BAYLE’S FIRST PUBLISHED WORK.
A forerunner of the Enlightenment, Pierre Bayle discusses the appearance of a comet in 1680. In his essay, which may be seen as a discourse on the scientific method, Bayle criticises the reactions of his contemporaries who speculated on the meaning of the phenomenon (is it a sign of God? Does it announce some event?), instead of trying first to study it for what it is – a natural phenomenon – in order to find its causes and explain it. This sharp criticism of superstition as well as a plea for rationalism eventually became the centre of a controversy launched by Pierre Jurieu, who accused Bayle of promoting atheism.
A fine copy in its first Dutch vellum binding.
Soultrait 17th century 20.
12° (152 x 92mm). Woodcut device on title. Manuscript correction on p.181. (Without final blank, small stain on 3 leaves.) Contemporary Dutch vellum over thin pasteboard, title written on spine and “636”.
RARE FIRST EDITION OF PIERRE BAYLE’S FIRST PUBLISHED WORK.
A forerunner of the Enlightenment, Pierre Bayle discusses the appearance of a comet in 1680. In his essay, which may be seen as a discourse on the scientific method, Bayle criticises the reactions of his contemporaries who speculated on the meaning of the phenomenon (is it a sign of God? Does it announce some event?), instead of trying first to study it for what it is – a natural phenomenon – in order to find its causes and explain it. This sharp criticism of superstition as well as a plea for rationalism eventually became the centre of a controversy launched by Pierre Jurieu, who accused Bayle of promoting atheism.
A fine copy in its first Dutch vellum binding.
Soultrait 17th century 20.
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