Description
[HELVETIUS (Claude Adrien). On the mind. Paris, Durand, 1759. In-8, XX-481 p., [1] f. (privil.), contemporary mottled and glazed fawn calf, spine with 6 nerves, basane title-piece, ornamented caissons, gilt roulette on the edges, red edges (head-cap roughly restored, spine a little rubbed). Clandestine edition published by the bookseller Bassompierre of Liège, after the condemnation of the work and the revocation of its privilege. The avocat général Jean-Omer Joly de Fleury wrote to Malesherbes on March 14, 1759: "Je vous donne avis, Monsieur, qu'il commence à se distribuer dans Paris une nouvelle édition in-8° et contrefaite du livre De l'Esprit. According to the information I have received, it is by Bassompierre, printed in Liege, and it is believed to have entered Paris. I have a copy" (quoted by D. Droixhe, Une histoire des Lumières au Pays de Liège, Liège, ULG, 2007, p.89). The publisher from Liège did not hesitate to sign his work, since the woodcut which decorates the title page is signed with the initials "J.P.G.", of Jean-Philippe Gramme, who worked a lot for Bassompierre. (D. Smith, Bibliography of the writings of Helvétius, E8).
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[HELVETIUS (Claude Adrien). On the mind. Paris, Durand, 1759. In-8, XX-481 p., [1] f. (privil.), contemporary mottled and glazed fawn calf, spine with 6 nerves, basane title-piece, ornamented caissons, gilt roulette on the edges, red edges (head-cap roughly restored, spine a little rubbed). Clandestine edition published by the bookseller Bassompierre of Liège, after the condemnation of the work and the revocation of its privilege. The avocat général Jean-Omer Joly de Fleury wrote to Malesherbes on March 14, 1759: "Je vous donne avis, Monsieur, qu'il commence à se distribuer dans Paris une nouvelle édition in-8° et contrefaite du livre De l'Esprit. According to the information I have received, it is by Bassompierre, printed in Liege, and it is believed to have entered Paris. I have a copy" (quoted by D. Droixhe, Une histoire des Lumières au Pays de Liège, Liège, ULG, 2007, p.89). The publisher from Liège did not hesitate to sign his work, since the woodcut which decorates the title page is signed with the initials "J.P.G.", of Jean-Philippe Gramme, who worked a lot for Bassompierre. (D. Smith, Bibliography of the writings of Helvétius, E8).
