Descartes rené

1677 · 324650 — Amsterdam: Elzevir 1677. Third. hardcover. very good. La Forge & Von Gutschoven. Illustrated throughout the text with many anatomical woodcuts. Title printed in red & black with printer's device. 76 239 pages. Small 4to 8 x 6 inches contemporary leather rather worn & torn with front cover re-attached but interior is rather clean with just a few errant stains and some occasional worming in the gutter margins. Amsterdam: Elzevir 1677. Third edition First and only Elzevir edition and the first edition of the better Latin text. Overall a very good- copy with some occasional stains and with the binding defects noted but a remarkably clean copy of this important book.<br/> <br/> The great philosopher's early work in which he developed his concept of mind-body dualism and animal automatism. "A physiological appendix to his Discourse on method "it" was the first attempt to cover the whole field of "animal physiology." GM 574. This work "also quickly became a rich fund of ideas upon which he drew throughout the rest of his intellectual life." DSB 4 p. 63. Withheld from the public while Descartes was alive for fear of censure by the Catholic church the text was first printed in 1662 from a flawed manuscript. A French translation appeared in 1664 followed by the present corrected Latin edition published by Elzevir with diagrams after la Forge and von Gutschoven and an extensive introduction by Clerselier. -- Willems 1531; Wellcome II p. 453; Laehr I 394-96. Garrison p. 356.<br/> <br/> Elzevir unknown