Geneva: chez Henri-Albert Gøsse & Comp., 1748.
Collation: 12mo: *
12 *
* 1 A–N12
O10, 179 leaves, pp. xxvi 331 [1] (last page blank), title in red and
black, woodcut headpieces and initials.
Condition: 145 x 90mm
Binding: Contemporary mottled sheep,
gilt spine with raised bands, marbled endpapers, red edges, a little rubbed.
References: Keynes 79; Wellcome II,
149.
Price: £150
Third French edition, a reprint of
Pierre Mortier’s Amsterdam edition of 1745, itself a translation of the second
Dublin edition of 1744 with additions and corrections supplied by the author and
a letter to Wessel Linden.
¶ A translation of Siris: a chain
of philosophical reflexions and inquiries concerning the virtues of tar water
(Dublin 1745), one of Berkeley’s most popular works which ‘begins as an
investigation of the medicinal virtues of tar water and ends with a disquisition
on Platonic philosophy ... Siris ... involves an attempt to assimilate
Newtonian concepts to the more complex phenomena of chemistry and animal
physiology’ (DSB).
