PARRAN, Antoine.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Traité de la musique theorique et pratique, contenant les preceptes de la composition. First edition of the French Jesuit's work on music, a superb association copy, inscribed by Constantijn Huygens with his Latin motto 'Constanter' and recording this as being a gift from the eminent French philosopher and scientist Marin Mersenne, who corrected the work and corresponded with the author.Mersenne (1588-1648) was central to French scientific life in the period, establishing a community of scholars and scientists based around his monastic order of Minims at Paris, and corresponding with leading intellectuals across Europe, including Gassendi, Descartes, van Helmont, Fermat, Hobbes, and Pascal. He founded the Academia Parisiensis in 1635, the precursor to the Académie des sciences established by Colbert in 1666.Constantijn Huygens (1596-1687) was born into a wealthy family serving the house of Orange, and with "a strong educational and cultural tradition. The grandfather took an active part in the education of his children, and thus [Constantijn] acquired great erudition in both literature and the sciences. He corresponded with Mersenne and Descartes, the latter often enjoying his hospitality in The Hague. Constantijn was a man of taste in the fine arts, talented in drawing, a musician and fertile composer, and, above all, a great poet; his Dutch and Latin verse gained him a lasting place in the history of Dutch literature" (DSB).The author of the treatise, Antoine Parran (1587-1

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.