One of the earliest significant works of popular science

WILKINS, John.

A Discourse Concerning A New World & Another Planet, In two Bookes.

London: Printed by John Norton for John Maynard, 1640.

Hardcover. Very Good. Item #001812

A Discourse Concerning A New World & Another Planet, In two Bookes. The First Book. The Discovery of a New World. Or, A Discourse Tending to Prove, That 'tis Probable There May Be Another Habitable World in the Moone. With a Discourse Concerning the Possibility of a Passage Thither. London: Printed by John Norton for John Maynard, 1640. The Second Book, A Discourse Concerning a New Planet. Tending to prove, That 'tis Probable Our Earth is one of the Planets. London: Printed by R. H. for John Maynard, 1640. Two volumes bound in one. 8vo (170x110 mm). [16], 242, [2:blank] pp.; [14], 246, [2:errata] pp., extra engraved title by W. Marshall to vol. 1 (re-inserted on stub), several woodcut diagrams in text, with leaf P7 present in vol. 2 as a cancel leaf (with engraved illustration, bound before p.1) and as a cancellandum, errata leaf to vol. 1 bound before p.1, errata leaf to vol. 2 bound at the end (supplied and re-margined), leaf R1 (pages 241/2, vol. 2) supplied and re-margined, light circular stain on opening gathering, blindstamp on title and last leaf, bookplate of Wigan public library to inner front cover, contemporary calf (hinges repaired, upper joint cracked). An internally sound and complete copy, with all the cancel and errata leaves present. ----

ESTC s.v.; Norman 2240. - Book I: Third Impression, Corrected and Enlarged. Book II: First edition. FIRST COMPLETE EDITION. 'ONE OF THE EARLIEST SIGNIFICANT WORKS OF POPULAR SCIENCE' (Norman), which comprises the third edition of Wilkins' The Discovery of a New World as part i and the first edition of A Discourse Concerning a New Planet as part ii. 'Wilkins's primary aim was to promote general knowledge and acceptance of the "new" science of Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler and to wean his readers from an unquestioning dependence upon Aristotelian doctrine and literal biblical interpretation. In the first edition of the Discovery Wilkins had used Galileo's statement that the moon is a world similar to the earth as a foundation for more speculative hypotheses, wondering if the moon might not support life, what it inhabitants might be like, and whether the moon's resemblance to the earth could be extended into a uniformitarian theory of the universe. In [this] edition Wilkins added a section, inspired by Francis Godwin's Man in the Moone (1638), on the then-sensational idea of voyaging to the moon, discussing the problems connected with this endeavor -- such as gravity and the nature and height of the atmosphere -- in terms of contemporary physical knowledge' (Norman).

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