SORBIÈRE, [Samuel] de.

A Paris: Chez Robert de Ninville…1660

8vo, pp. (xxxvi), 468, (4). With a woodcut of Saturn on p. 153, woodcut printer’s device on title, woodcut headpieces and initials. Contemporary vellum, yapped edges, spine with later green morocco label and gilt rules. Some very light browning but a nice copy. Bookplate of the Gaddesden Library.

SOLE EDITION. This book is often confused with Sorbière’s Lettres et discours sur diverses matières curieuses, also published in 1660, but the present book is somewhat rarer and consequently often overlooked. Both are collections of letters and speeches or addresses to various eminent persons on a variety of scientific matters. Sorbière was one of that group of savants who, from 1657 on, met regularly at the house of Hubert de Montmort in Paris where they discussed the scientific discoveries of the day and which became a forerunner of the Académie des Sciences.

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