Amsterdam, Blaeu, 1682-1683.

3 parts in 3 volumes 4to, I/ (1) bl.l., (4) ll, 383 pp, (1) bl.l.; II/ (1) bl.l., (2) ll, 404 pp., (2) ll., (1) bl.l.; III/ (1) bl.l., (8) ll., 427 pp., (1) bl.l., small burnhole pp. 249 and 413 with damage to 2 letters.

Full Dutch vellum, blindstamped fleuron in the center of the covers, double blindstamped fillet around the covers, flat spines, speckled edges. Contemporary binding by the editor Blaeu.

201 x 154 mm.

First complete edition of Descartes' Letters to princess Elisabeth and Mersenne. The 3rd volume contains the continuation of Descartes' Latin correspondence and appears here for the first time.

Tchemerzine, II, 786.

For several years, from 1642 to the end of 1649, i.e. during the period of his life from the "Meditations Metaphysiques" to his death in Stockholm, Rene Descartes (1596-1650) corresponded assiduously with princess Elisabeth, daughter of Frederic V, elector palatine and king of Bohemia.

"Princess Elisabeth, a highly cultured woman with a special interest in mathematics, had read the 'Méditations métaphysiques' with great interest and admiration. Through a French émigré and friend of Descartes, Palotti, she had penetrated further into the thinking of the man she soon considered her master.

And in her very first letter (May 1643), she asked the philosopher to explain a point in his "Meditations" that she didn't quite grasp: how it could be that "the soul can determine the spirits (animals) of the body to do…

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