Fontenelle's Dialogues Of The Dead, In Three Parts. I. Dialogues Of The Antients. II. The Antients With The Moderns. III. The Moderns
London: Jacob Thonson, 1708. 1st Edition. 8vo. Original Calf. Pp. [2], L, [2], 209, [1 - booklist]. Lacks frontispiece. Original panelled calf, neatly re-cased. Some pale staining on outer margins. Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657-1757) was an Enlightenment author and philosopher writing particularly on the emerging sciences. Dialogues of the Dead was very popular when published in 1683, establishing his fame, with the author portraying dialogues between historical thinkers, such as the philosophers Socrates, Montaigne, Erasistratus and William Harvey. He was noted for his popular style, recognised as second only to Voltaire in his time. He attributed his long life to eating strawberries, and had a lunar crater named after him in 1935. A good copy of the rare first English edition. Good. Item #017324
Price: $390.96 NZD