Estate / Collection: The Property of a New England Family

[BAYLE, PIERRE]
Pensées diverses, Ecrites à un Docteur de Sorbonne, A l'occasion de la Comète de 1680. Rotterdam: Reinier Leers, 1683. Contemporary vellum, manuscript spine title in ink, yapp edges. 5 7/8 x 3 1/2 inches (15 x 9 cm); [4], 811, [15] pp. Light soiling and wear, rubbing to the spine title with date added later in ink, spine with remnants of a collections label, loss to vellum along yapp edge, tearing to pastedowns along the edge of the vellum turn-ins, contents lightly toned with occasional pale spotting and a few small wormholes.

The first edition of Bayle's important philosophical text in which he refutes commonly held superstitions about comets being bad omens or signs of divine anger, and goes on defend atheism and secular society, leading to the book's being banned in France.