Gassendi u. François Bernier, PierreAbregé de... Lot 520

Gassendi u. François Bernier, PierreAbregé de la Philosophie de Mr. Gassendi, contenant l'Institution Astronomique. Les Systemes de Ptolomée, de Copernic, & de Tycho-Brahé. Plusieurs questions qui regardent la nature, & les proprietez des Cieux & des Astres. Et la Refutation de l'Astrologie Judiciaire. With 43 partly fulls. Woodcuts. Paris, Michallet, 1675. 3 vols. 280 (recte 270) p. 8°. Mottled cloth with gilt back, somewhat rubbed and bumped. Astronomie Gassendi a. François Bernier, Pierre Abregé de la Philosophie de Mr. Gassendi, contenant l'Institution Astronomique. Les Systemes de Ptolomée, de Copernic, & de Tycho-Brahé. Plusieurs questions qui regardent la nature, & les proprietez des Cieux & des Astres. Et la Refutation de l'Astrologie Judiciaire. With 43 partly fulls. Woodcuts. Paris, Michallet, 1675. 3 vols. 280 (recte 270) p. 8°. Mottled cloth with gilt back, somewhat rubbed and bumped. DSB V, 289 - Very rare first printing of the first edition with four astronomical treatises, the second printing appeared with the addition "seconde partie". Edited and translated from Latin by Francois Bernier (1620-1688), Gassendi's pupil and secretary. Bernier reproduced Gassendi's ideas objectively and faithfully in his Abregé, without editorial interjections or innovations. However, he was dissatisfied with some of Gassendi's ideas: in 1682 he published, again with Michallet, his "Doutes de Mr. Bernier sur quelques-uns des principaux Chapitres de son Abregé de la Philosophie de Gassendi". - "The principal elements of Gassendi's astronomy include a global embrace of empirical method, advanced instrumentation, and measurement, an interest in unusual celestial phenomena, and a partially masked defense of Copernicanism... A primary goal of these recorded observations was to confirm and extend the Rudolphine Tables, the project set up by Tycho Brahe and completed by Kepler, to facilitate calculation of the planet's positions... Another facet of Gassendi's empiricist astronomy was his denunciation of astrology as crafted independent of any ideas from the senses, impervious to correction by experiment or observation, and thus as failing to qualify as natural or experiential knowledge." (Saul Fisher in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2005). - Engraved bookplate with erased name on front endpaper. Minimally browned and with occasional small brown spots. Overall a very good copy. Astronomy - With 43 partly fulls. Woodcuts. Mottled cloth with gilt lettering, somewhat rubbed and bumped. - Very rare first printing of the first edition with four astronomical treatises, the second printing appeared with the addition "seconde partie". Edited and translated from Latin by Francois Bernier (1620-1688), Gassendi's pupil and secretary. Bernier reproduced Gassendi's ideas objectively and faithfully in his Abregé, without editorial interjections or innovations. However, he was dissatisfied with some of Gassendi's ideas: in 1682 he published, again through Michallet, his "Doutes de Mr Bernier sur quelques-uns des principaux Chapitres de son Abregé de la Philosophie de Gassendi". - Engraved bookplate with erased name on front endpaper. Minimally browned and with occasional small brown spots. Overall a very good copy.