- Cambridge : Cambridge University Press 1958
- 8vo.
- cloth, dust jacket.
- xviii, 365 pages.
- Order Nr. 20471
- Price: $ 15.00

Reprint of the 1759 edition with a few corrections, but otherwise unchanged. French philospher and mathematician Jean le Rond d'Alembert (1717--1783) studied a number of fields--law, medicine, and the sciences, including planetary astronomy. These five volumes generated a fair share of controversy when they were published. Topics cover a diverse range of studies related to literature, history, philosophy and mathematics. Volume one contains mostly introductory material with a section explaining the layout and purpose of each section for all of the volumes. The series of essays begins with observations on the division of the sciences, according to the Chancellor Bacon, and includes an extensive fold out chart that delineates a schematic of the divisions and subdivisions of the sciences to illustrate the connections of different branches of study. The second volume contains essays on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century scholars and academics, such as Jean Bernoulli (a mathematics professor in Basel), Abbé Terrasson (a philosophy scholar), the Abbé Mallet (a professor of theology) and M. du Marsais (an advocat in Paris). This volume includes essays on Queen Christine of Sweden and M. d'Alembert of the French Academy. Volume three begins with observations on the art of translation in general and is followed by a number of excerpts from Tacitus in both Latin and French translation. These passages showed off his own consummate skill in translation. The fourth volume has more general essays on elements and principles of humanistic studies, philosophy, religion and music. Volume five clarifies different positions within philosophical studies, questions on the calculation of probability, and reflections on poetry and history. Title pages printed in red and black. Decorative initial letters. Head and tail pieces. Ink signature on all title pages. The first chapter page with signature and stamp, Rouen, 1797. Ex-library copy with markings. Bookseller's label in first volume, Librairie Raymond Clavreuil, Paris. Some spines cracked. Most of the hinges split. Edges and corners of covers rubbed. Some foxing through a few volumes.