CONDORCET (Jean-Antoine-Nicolas Caritat de) - Lot 419

CONDORCET (Jean-Antoine-Nicolas Caritat de) Éloges des académiciens de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, morts depuis l'an 1666 jusqu'en 1790 ; suivis de ceux de l'Hôpital et de Pascal. Brunswick and Paris, Vieweg et Fuchs, 1799. 5 volumes in-12 paperback. Untrimmed copy. Blue paper covers, paper title vignette on spine. Philosopher, mathematician and encyclopedist, he was appointed to the Académie des Sciences in 1769, at the age of twenty-six; he became its perpetual secretary in 1773. His candidacy for the Académie française was supported by Voltaire. D'Alembert, initially opposed to Condorcet's candidacy, decided to support it after Voltaire's death. He left numerous scientific and political writings, the eulogies of members of the Académie des Sciences who died before 1699, plus those of Buffon, Euler, d'Alembert, Franklin, Linné, Vaucanson, a Life of Voltaire; his most important work is the Esquisse d'un tableau historique des progrès de l'esprit humain.