HUYGENS, Christian (1629-1695)

Lot 51
13.12.2023 11:00UTC +00:00
Classic
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£ 13 860
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1105574
Lot 51 | HUYGENS, Christian (1629-1695)
Estimate value
£ 6 000 – 9 000
HUYGENS, Christian (1629-1695)

Cosmotheros, sive de terris coelestibus. The Hague: Adrian Moetjens, 1698.

A fine copy of the first edition of Huygens’s posthumously published final work, in which he uses the Copernican theory of the universe as a basis for discussing the possibility of extra-terrestrial life. ‘A man that is of Copernicus’s opinion, that this Earth of ours is a planet, carried round and enlightened by the Sun, like the rest of them, cannot but sometimes have a fancy, that it’s not improbable that the rest of the planets have their dress and furniture, nay and their inhabitants too as well as this Earth of ours’ (from the first English edition, 1698).



Quarto (200 x 155mm). Woodcut title vignette, head-and tailpieces, initials, ruled in red throughout, 6 engraved plates, of which 5 folding, numbered 1-5 with plate 4 repeated (some minor browning). Contemporary calf, triple fillet gilt borders to covers, spine gilt, black morocco lettering piece, all edges gilt (spine ends neatly restored).

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