BODIN, Jean.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Universae Naturae Theatrum In Quo Rerum Omnium effectrices causae, & fines contemplantur, & continuae series quinque libris discutinur; First editions of the last lifetime works by Bodin, the culmination of his philosophical project and a quintessential example of late Renaissance natural philosophy. The Theatrum has been judged "the most systematic exposition of Bodin's vision of the world" (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy), while the Paradoxon is among the scarcest of his works: we could trace no previous examples in commerce.By the beginning of 1596, Bodin was preoccupied with bringing together over 40 years' study of the natural world. The Theatrum is a typically ambitious, typically Renaissance attempt to survey the whole of nature and uncover the general causes of natural phenomena. The work brought renewed accusations of atheism and had the distinction of being placed on the Index in 1628. The Paradoxon, by contrast, is a more focussed attempt to resolve the perennial debate between the active and contemplative lives.This copy of the Theatrum is from the second issue, with the ornamental device on the title page.

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