[VILLENEUVE (Daniel Jost de)]. Le Voyageur philosophe dans un pais inconnu des habitans de la Terre. By Mr. De Listonai. Amsterdam : Aux dépens de l'éditeur, 1761. - 2 volumes in-12, 166 x 97 : XXIV, 339 pp. ; VI, 384 pp. Red morocco, triple gilt fillet framing and gilt fleuron at corners, ornate smooth spine, interior gilt roulette, dark green moiré tabis linings and endpapers, gilt edges (period binding). Quérard, II, 791. - Utopie. La Quête de la Société idéale, BNF, 2000, no. 114. First edition of this lunar utopia by writer and playwright Daniel Jost de Villeneuve. "This philosophical odyssey is a dream at the end of which the traveler finds himself at the bottom of his bed. The dreamland, that of the Selenites (inhabitants of the moon), allows comparison of the social state and the natural state: in the absence of mine and yours, there is no vice, no crime, no fear of death. In Selenopolis, science has made great strides. It's the Enlightenment perfectly realized" (A. Soboul, Utopies au siècle des Lumières, Hachette, 1978). "More than in his description of the Moon and its capital, Selenopolis (a classic device for presenting the author's ideas on society), the book's interest lies in the passages in which Daniel de Villeneuve describes the principles of his aerial navigation and the inventions of the 24th century. His sail-and-oar ship is specifically designed for interplanetary navigation, and its crew includes physicist passengers whose job it is to take stock of the situation and determine the route to follow. Among the inventions of the centuries to come was 'ductile and malleable glass', used to make furniture" (Bernard Vouillot, BNF). A rare copy in contemporary morocco. Two slight tears on the spine of the second volume. Some foxing.