DELUC, Jean André

Physical and moral letters on the history of the earth and man. Addressed to the Queen of Great Britain. Paris & la Haye, veuve Duchesne & de Tune, 1779. 5 volumes in-8 (202 x 120 mm) of VIII, pp. 1-224, pp. CCXV-CCCLXVIII, pp. [225]-430 for the volume I ; 1 f.n.ch., 539 pp. for the volume II ; 1 f.n.ch, 566 pp. for volume III ; 2 f.n.c., 640 pp. for volume IV ; 2 f.n.c., 772 pp. 1 f.n.c. for volume V. Marbled calf, triple gilt fillet, spine with ornamented nerves, marbled edges (period binding). Brunet, II, 579; DSB, IV, 28. First edition of this "sought-after work, copies of which are uncommon" (Brunet). Physicist, geologist and philosopher, Jean André Deluc (1727-1817) was one of the first scientists to explore the high mountains. "Deluc believed that the six days of the Creation were six epochs that preceded the present state of the globe, which began when cavities in the interior of the earth collapsed and lowered the sea level, thereby exposing the continents. There was thus a distinction between an older creative, or antediluvian, period and a newer, or diluvian, period" (DSB). Nice copy.