A Conversation on the Plurality of Worlds. . . . To which is added Mr. Addison's Defence of the Newtonian Philosophy.

FONTENELLE, Bernard Le Bovier de (1657-1757); ADDISON, Joseph (1672-1719):

Published by London: Daniel Evans, 1758., 1758

About this Item

Later English translation of Entretiens sur la pluralite des mondes (1st French ed., 1686; 1st English ed., 1687; two English eds. came out in 1688 and another in 1715). 2 leaves (title page, next leaf; there is no half-title), [xii], 13-151 pp. Recent boards, small 8vo (176mm x 100mm), red leather spine label stamped in gilt. On the first flyleaf (a recent leaf) a former owner has made a long, neat ink inscription briefly describing Fontenelle, and where he acquired the book, adding it has been rebound 'without changing original sewing or margins.' Else Very Good. Addison's 'An Oration in Defence of the New Philosophy', delivered when he was 21 years old on July 7, 1693, is printed in pp. 147-51; I am not sure where it first appears (presumably somewhere before the 1715 English translation of Fontenelle). 'The first example in French of a learned work placed within the reach of an educated but non specialized public' (D.S.B. V: 59). OCLC locates only three copies, two in the US (Stanford, Chicago). A copy of this edition, bound in recent calf with new endpapers, sold for 110 pounds (about US$165 at the time) in Bloomsbury (UK) Sale 378, 21st August 2000; Bloomsbury said 'ESTC t166966; locates 2 copies in Britain and 1 in America.'.

Seller Inventory # 21301

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Conversation on the Plurality of Worlds. . . . To which is added Mr. Addison's Defence of the Newtonian Philosophy.
• Publisher: London: Daniel Evans, 1758.
• Publication Date: 1758
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 5th or later Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket