HELVETIUS.

Le vrai sens de la Nature. Ouvrage posthume.

London, 1774. 8vo. Very nice, contemporary full mottled calf with richly gilt spine. Gilt line to edges of boards. Marbled edges. A bit of minor scattered brownspotting and some smaller dampstaining towards end. All in all a very nice copy. (4), III, (1), 151 pp. Beautiful woodcut vignettes.

Possibly first edition. One of three editions printed in 1774, none of which has been established as the true first. All three editions are printed in London but differ in number of pages, the other two having 96 and 84 respectively, ours having 151.

This very interesting work of the French Enlightenment is probably not written by Helvetius, but by whom is not known. It does stay within the controversial lines of the great Enlightenment philosophers, though, probably being the reson why the author has never been identified. It has a lot in common with d'Holbach's monumental "Système de la Nature" from 1770, which constitutes the main work of materialism and one of the most important works of natural philosophy.

Tchermerzine VI:195.

Order-nr.: 42324