Chéseaux, Jean Phillip Loys de | Traité de la comète, Lausanne & Geneva, 1744, first edition

Chéseaux, Jean Phillip Loys de

Traité de la comète: qui a paru en decembre 1743 et en janvier, février et mars 1744. Lausanne & Geneva: Marc-Michel Bousquet, 1744

First edition of this treatise on the comet that crossed Europe from December 1743.

After the installation of an observatory on his family’s land in Chéseaux-sur-Lausanne in 1736, Chéseaux would rise to prominence with the publication of the present work detailing his observations of the comet, colloquially referred to as Comet de Chéseaux. Noted for its classification as a “Great Comet” and its fan of six-tails, the engravings produced within Traité de la comète have been heavily reproduced by scholars of astronomy for the next 150 years post-publication.

The text includes the observations of Calandrini and Cassini as well as Chéseaux's own. Chéseaux was an amateur scientist and a member of both the Académie des Sciences de Paris and the Royal Society of London.

8vo (187 x 106 mm). Title in red and black, woodcut vignette on title, woodcut initials and headpieces, 2 folding tables, 6 folding engraved plates; occasional spots and stains, some leaves trimmed, a few folding plates with minor tears predominately at vertical creases. Contemporary mottled sheep, spine in six compartments with raised bands, red morocco letter-piece in second, remaining with repeat gilt design, marbled endpapers, marbled edges; worn, a bit scuffed, worm-holing to spine, minor loss to head and foot. 

REFERENCES

Poggendorf I:1506

PROVENANCE

Robert S. Dunham (acquired from Heller Booksellers)