Preformation
Considerations sur les Corps Organisés, Ou l'on traite de leur Origine, de leur Développement, de leur Réproduction, &c. & ou l'on a rassemblé en abrégé tout ce que l'Histoire Naturelle offre de plus certain & de plus intéressant sur ce sujet.
xlii, one leaf of errata, 274 pp.; xx, 328 pp. Two vols. 8vo, cont. polished mottled calf (small inkstain to outer lower corner of the first 30 leaves), triple gilt fillet round sides, flat spines nicely gilt, red & green morocco lettering pieces on spines. Amsterdam: M.M. Rey, 1762.
First edition and a lovely set of this important work. Bonnet (1720-93), is considered one of the fathers of modern biology. He was an enthusiastic champion of preformation, the theory postulating that the animal already existed in miniature in the germ cell, which is first stated in this work. “Bonnet’s theory of generation offered the best synthesis of 18th-century ideas of development and remained a leading authority until von Baer…He used many of Haller’s arguments to support his own opinions.”–Garrison-Morton 472.
Pretty set with the stamp on half-titles of Antoine Passy (1792-1873), French biologist and geologist.
❧ Needham, A History of Embryology, pp. 213-14.
Price: $2,000.00
Item ID: 5322
