[MIRABAUD (Jean-Baptiste de), BERNARD (Jean-Frédéric), LE MA - Lot 132

[MIRABAUD (Jean-Baptiste de), BERNARD (Jean-Frédéric), LE MASCRIER (Jean-Baptiste)]. Le Monde, son origine, et son antiquité. Première partie. - The soul and its immortality. Second part. - Essay on chronology. London [i.e. Paris, Briasson], 1751. 3 parts in one volume in-8, , XII-244 p. ; [2] f., 172 p. ; 72 p., contemporary red morocco, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, ornate ribbed spine, inner gilt roulette, gilt edges (one corner slightly dulled, minor rubbing from use. Lining paper partly detached). First edition of this collection published by the priest Jean-Baptiste Le Mascrier (1697-1760) and the philosopher and lawyer César Chesneau Du Marsais (1676-1756). It brings together three texts attributed respectively to bookseller Jean-Frédéric Bernard (1683?-1744), philosopher Jean-Baptiste de Mirabaud (1675-1760), and Jean-Baptiste Le Mascrier. These are three of the major texts of materialist thought in 18th-century France. In it, the authors openly attack the metaphysicians of their day, who, in their view, were merely adopting the Platonic theory of the spiritual soul, and, without claiming to set out a true system, record the opinions of the Ancients on the world, its structure, formation, revolutions and destruction, as well as on the soul, its nature and immortality. The work was condemned by Parliament. Provenance: Du Moncel (19th-century bookplate stencilled on first endpaper).