55 - JACOB SPON: REPONSE A LA CRITIQUE PUBLIEE PAR M.GUILLET SUR LE VOYAGE DE GRÈCE DE IACOB SPON. LYON, 1679

JACOB SPON: REPONSE A LA CRITIQUE PUBLIEE PAR M.GUILLET SUR LE VOYAGE DE GRÈCE DE IACOB SPON. LYON, 1679 First and only edition, in small 8vo, contemporary full leather with very light wear,spine richly gilt,text clean and bright, complete [24], 322p.[2], overall in very good plus condition. A landmark in the history of science and archaeology. It represents the victory of fieldwork over armchair scholarship. In 1678 Spon published his account of his travels to Greece. This offended Georges Guillet de Saint-Victor (known as Guilletière), who had only three years before published a popular book on Athens. Guillet had never actually visited Greece; he had compiled his work from secondary sources blended with few imagination.When Spon’s eyewitness account corrected Guillet’s errors, Guillet launched a bitter public attack. Spon’s 1679 response with this particular book was decisive. He used this text to establish the methodology of what we now call archaeology Spon argued that one hour on the Acropolis was worth more than a thousand hours in a library. He prioritized direct observation, the power of autopsy, over the prestige of old books. Spon used ancient inscriptions as primary evidence to settle disputes about history and geography. He argued that stones do not lie, whereas copyists and poets often do.Finally he methodically debunked Guillet’s geographical fantasies, providing precise locations for monuments like the Parthenon and the Temple of Olympian Zeus. This written, published exchange of arguments was a turning point,it shifted the study of the past from a literary exercise into a physical, evidence-based science.A very important book on Greece, fundamental in the history of science. Very rare, as any scientific publication.