128 - [ROBINET, Jean-Baptiste].

[ROBINET, Jean-Baptiste]. On Nature. Amsterdam, Van Harrevelt, 1761. In-8, 456 pp. (binding slightly rubbed, spine slightly faded, head and foot caps worn). First edition of this seminal work on the theory of evolution, in which the naturalist philosopher Robinet (1733–1820) puts forward the idea that living organisms transform into one another to form an unbroken chain. This title was placed on the Index as early as 1762 (Cohen). In its contemporary binding. Frontispiece and beautiful engraved vignette; red and black title. Provenance: from the library of Pierre Séjourné. Pierre Séjourné (1930–1993), a Parisian bookseller and lover of bookbindings, a flutist, and an enthusiast of literature and classical music, frequented both the Parisian artistic and literary circles and the world of the Decorative Arts and their schools through his uncle, the architect and academician Albert Laprade. Also an author and actor, he devoted himself to writing and performing his own plays, which were staged primarily in the Paris region.