Milestones of Science Books

DESCARTES, Rene.

Principia philosophiae / Meditationes de prima philosophiae.

Amsterdam: Louis Elzevir, 1644.

1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #002732

I. Principia philosophiae. Amsterdam, Louis Elzevir, 1644. [24], 310, [2] pp., signatures *⁴ (a)-(b)⁴ A-2Q⁴ (-2Q4), including device on title, several woodcut illustrations (some full page), with blank b4, but without final blank 2Q4. [Bound with:] II. Meditationes de prima philosophia. Part 1 (of 2) only. Amsterdam: Jan Blaue, 1644. [2] 3-48 pp., signatures A⁴ b-f⁴. Woodcut printer's device on title and ornamental initials. Two works bound in one volume. 4to (203 x 152 mm). Contemporary mottled calf, rebacked retaining much of the original spine and the gilt lettering piece, spine with 5 raised bands (extremities rubbed, corners slightly scuffed), red-sprinkled edges, original endpapers. Text generally crisp and clean with very minor occasional spotting and light age toning, first title little dust-soiled, small worm track at fore-edge in a few central quires mended with tissue, 2 ink smudges to lower blank margin of p.82, small light dampstain to blank margin of a few leaves. Provenance: [Johann Friedrich] Goldhagen (inscription on front flyleaf dated 1760 recording it as a gift from Professor Hoppe); faint illegible ink stamp to title page. A fine copy with ample margins. ----

Norman 622; Guibert, p. 118; Tchemerzine II, p. 787; NLM/Krivatsy 9512. - FIRST EDITION OF DESCARTES' SYSTEM OF PHYSICS, in which he developed his theory of vortices. Based in part on his then unpublished work Le monde, which treated the creation and function of the universe in completely mechanistic terms, Descartes' Principia provides a systematic statement of his metaphysics and natural philosophy. The first part, De principiis cognitionis humanae (Of the Principles of Human Knowledge) deals with the nature of motion, rest, force, and action. He defines motion in Book II and distinguishes the difference between translation and 'the force that brings about this translation.' Descartes was careful in the Principia to qualify his mechanistic Copernican views with the idea that all motion is relative.
'His vortical theory allowed him to argue that since the earth is at rest in its surrounding medium it remains unmoved, although it, together with its entire vortex, necessarily circles the sun' (Norman). Descartes' system represents a truly comprehensive look at the universe in a fundamentally new, mechanistic and non-teleological way. His vortex theory was the starting point for all serious work in physical theory in the mid-17th century, including Newton. The fourth and final part of the work contains the first scientific theory of magnetism.
II. Guibert, pp. 45-46. - THIRD LATIN EDITION, and the first Amsterdam edition, of Descartes' Meditationes (first Paris 1641), containing his famous conclusion "Cogito ergo sum", here without all the objections and replies. The book is made up of 6 meditations, in which Descartes first discards all belief in things which are not absolutely certain, and then tries to establish what can be known for sure. The "Meditations" consist of the presentation of his metaphysical system in its most detailed level. The publisher announces that, for a better understanding of Descartes' philosophy, he added Gassendi's Disquisitiones Metaphysicae; this, however, is not included here. - Visit our website for additional images and information.

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