Buffon: Les époques de la nature. Édition critique avec le manuscrit, une introduction et des notes par Jacques Roger. Mémoires du muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle: Nouvelle Série, Série C, Sciences de la Terre Tome X.

[BUFFON, Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de (1707-1788)] ROGER, Jacques:

Verlag: Paris: Éditions du Muséum, 1962., 1962

Beschreibung

Presentation copy of the First Edition, inscribed by Roger to I. Bernard Cohen. clii, 343 pp; illus. Original printed wrappers. Front wrapper chipped near head of spine, else Very Good. In his D.S.B. article on Buffon (Vol. II: 576-82), Roger calls this a 'critical ed. by J. Roger (Paris, 1962), with an introduction, reproduction of the MS, notes, scientific vocabulary, and bibliography' (p. 581). The first separate edition appeared in 1780; Roger says the work was first published in 1779, though the lone seller offering a copy on ABE says it 'appeared originally in 4to in the fifth volume of the supplements to Buffon's Histoire Naturelle in 1778.' 'This work is of considerable interest because it offers a history of nature, combining geology with biology, and particularly because of Buffon's attempt to establish a universal chronology. From his experiments on cooling, he estimated the age of the earth to be 75,000 years. This figure is considerable in comparison to contemporary views which set the creation of the world at 4000-6000 B.C. In studying sedimentation phenomena, however, Buffon discovered the need for much more time and estimated a period of as long as 3,000,000 years. That he abandoned that figure (which appears only in the manuscript) to return to the originally published figure of 75,000 years, was due to his fear of being misunderstood by his readers. He himself thought that 'the more we extend time, the closer we shall be to the truth' (Époques de la nature, p. 40)' (D.S.B. II: 579). Buchnummer des Verkäufers D00215

Bibliografische Details

Titel: Buffon: Les époques de la nature. Édition ...

Verlag: Paris: Éditions du Muséum, 1962.

Erscheinungsdatum: 1962

Einband: Soft cover

Zustand: Very Good

Zustand des Schutzumschlags: No Jacket

Signiert: Signed by Author(s)

Auflage: 1st Edition