1766 The Of Fontenelle French Enlightement Antique 18th Century Book
Item History & Price
Oeuvres de Monsieur de Fontenelle. Tome Onzième.
Antique edition of the works of the French Enlightenment writer Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657-1757) printed in Paris in 1766.Volume 11 only, complete in itself.Book in French.
Paris, Chez Regnard, 1766.17 x 10 cm; LXXII + 315 pages.Period full leather binding, gilt to spine, marbled endpapers, marbled edges. Very good condition.
Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle (French: [fɔ̃tənɛl];11 February 16...57 – 9 January 1757), also calledBernard Le Bouyer de Fontenelle, was a Frenchauthor and an influential member of three of theacademies of the Institut de France, noted especially forhis accessible treatment of scientific topics during theunfolding of the Age of Enlightenment. Fontenelle was a popular figure in the educated French society of his period, holding aposition of esteem comparable only to that of Voltaire. Unlike Voltaire however, Fontenelleavoided making important enemies. He balanced his penchant for universal critical thoughtwith liberal doses of flattery and praise to the appropriate individuals in aristocratic society.Fontenelle forms a link between two very widely different periods of French literature, thatof Corneille, Racine and Boileau on the one hand, and that of Voltaire, D'Alembert andDiderot on the other. It is not in virtue of his great age alone that this can be said of him; heactually had much in common with the beaux esprits of the 17th century, as well as with thephilosophes of the 18th. But it is to the latter rather than to the former period that heproperly belongs. According to Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, he deserves a place "dans laclasse des esprits infiniment distingués"—distinguished, however, it ought to be added by intelligence rather than by intellect, and less by thepower of saying much than by the power of saying alittle well. There have been several collectededitions of Fontenelle's works, the first beingprinted in 3 vols. at the Hague in 1728–1729. Thebest is that of Paris, in 8 vols., 1790. Some of hisseparate works have been frequently reprinted andalso translated. The Pluralité des mondes wastranslated into modern Greek in 1794. Sainte-Beuvehas an interesting essay on Fontenelle, with severaluseful references, in the Causeries du lundi, vol. iii.See also Villemain, Tableau de la littératurefrançaise au XVIIIe siècle; the abbé Trublet, Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de la vie et desouvrages de M. de Fontenelle (1759); A Laborde-Milaà, Fontenelle (1905), in the "Grandsécrivains français" series; and L. Maigron, Fontenelle, l'homme, l'œuvre, l'influence (Paris, 1906).His Dialogues of the dead show both his erudition and wit, by presenting invented – butplausible – dialogues between dead ancients, dead moderns and a whole book devoted todialogues between an ancient and a modern. To Montaigne asking him if some centurieshad more wise men than other, Socrates answers sadly that "The general order of naturesseems very constant". In one of the books Roxelane and Anne Boleyn discuss about politicsand the way for a woman to decide a man to marry her. The dialog between Montezuma andCortez allows the former to dismiss some myths about the wisdom in ancient Greece byquoting some counter-examples.In 1935, the lunar crater Fontenelle was named after him.
Please note that we ship from Europe. There may be a longer delivery time than stated by Ebay.
Antique edition of the works of the French Enlightenment writer Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657-1757) printed in Paris in 1766.Volume 11 only, complete in itself.Book in French.
Paris, Chez Regnard, 1766.17 x 10 cm; LXXII + 315 pages.Period full leather binding, gilt to spine, marbled endpapers, marbled edges. Very good condition.
Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle (French: [fɔ̃tənɛl];11 February 16...57 – 9 January 1757), also calledBernard Le Bouyer de Fontenelle, was a Frenchauthor and an influential member of three of theacademies of the Institut de France, noted especially forhis accessible treatment of scientific topics during theunfolding of the Age of Enlightenment. Fontenelle was a popular figure in the educated French society of his period, holding aposition of esteem comparable only to that of Voltaire. Unlike Voltaire however, Fontenelleavoided making important enemies. He balanced his penchant for universal critical thoughtwith liberal doses of flattery and praise to the appropriate individuals in aristocratic society.Fontenelle forms a link between two very widely different periods of French literature, thatof Corneille, Racine and Boileau on the one hand, and that of Voltaire, D'Alembert andDiderot on the other. It is not in virtue of his great age alone that this can be said of him; heactually had much in common with the beaux esprits of the 17th century, as well as with thephilosophes of the 18th. But it is to the latter rather than to the former period that heproperly belongs. According to Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, he deserves a place "dans laclasse des esprits infiniment distingués"—distinguished, however, it ought to be added by intelligence rather than by intellect, and less by thepower of saying much than by the power of saying alittle well. There have been several collectededitions of Fontenelle's works, the first beingprinted in 3 vols. at the Hague in 1728–1729. Thebest is that of Paris, in 8 vols., 1790. Some of hisseparate works have been frequently reprinted andalso translated. The Pluralité des mondes wastranslated into modern Greek in 1794. Sainte-Beuvehas an interesting essay on Fontenelle, with severaluseful references, in the Causeries du lundi, vol. iii.See also Villemain, Tableau de la littératurefrançaise au XVIIIe siècle; the abbé Trublet, Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de la vie et desouvrages de M. de Fontenelle (1759); A Laborde-Milaà, Fontenelle (1905), in the "Grandsécrivains français" series; and L. Maigron, Fontenelle, l'homme, l'œuvre, l'influence (Paris, 1906).His Dialogues of the dead show both his erudition and wit, by presenting invented – butplausible – dialogues between dead ancients, dead moderns and a whole book devoted todialogues between an ancient and a modern. To Montaigne asking him if some centurieshad more wise men than other, Socrates answers sadly that "The general order of naturesseems very constant". In one of the books Roxelane and Anne Boleyn discuss about politicsand the way for a woman to decide a man to marry her. The dialog between Montezuma andCortez allows the former to dismiss some myths about the wisdom in ancient Greece byquoting some counter-examples.In 1935, the lunar crater Fontenelle was named after him.
Please note that we ship from Europe. There may be a longer delivery time than stated by Ebay.
