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KÂ- MONDO / KAPANDJI MORHANGE

73 - [MANUSCRIPT – PHYSICAL SCIENCES]. P. Vict.ii Lovat, Professo…
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Estimate €300 - €400
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Description
[MANUSCRIPT – PHYSICAL SCIENCES]. P. Vict.ii Lovat, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Bra, Lectures on Philosophy, Volume IV, Part q.a on Light. A late 17th-century manuscript of lectures on the physical sciences, setting out and discussing, amongst other things, theories of the propagation of light. Circa 1680–1750. Large 8vo (21 x 16.5 cm), off-white vellum. 199 unnumbered folios, including 172 double-sided text pages, 5 title pages and a fold-out plate (27 x 34 cm) of hand-drawn geometric figures, approximately 25 lines per page, brown ink, legible cursive script, very few fly-speck stains, written in a single hand. In Latin. Mould on the binding, occasionally extending slightly onto a few margins; several water stains; ink occasionally slightly smudged; and a few passages towards the end where the ink has faded. An interesting manuscript on natural philosophy from the late 17th or early 18th century. It is divided into several sections, each dealing with a scientific concept such as light (‘de Lumine’), fluid mechanics (capillary tubes ‘de Tubis Capillaribus’), electricity (“de Electricitate artificiali, vindice et naturali”) or gases (“de Aëre”). Judging by the title (in French: ‘Lessons in Philosophy by Father Victor Lovat, public professor of philosophy at the University of Braidensi [Breda or Brera], Volume IV, Part Four”), this is most likely a physics course taught by a Jesuit priest in Breda (Netherlands) or in Milan (the Brera district of Milan). The first folio, for example, discusses the nature of light, setting out and testing the various theories in vogue at the end of the 17th century, notably that of Christian Huygens (1629–1695), who argued that light is a principle through which visible things reach the senses (wave theory), Newton’s theory (light as a continuous flow of emanations), and the Cartesian theories. A fine illustration of the evolution of the physical sciences.
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About the sale Miscellaneous Books
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Auction time 07/06/2026 at 2:00 PM
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