PREFACE

The Works of Descartes were published several times during the 17th century, both during the philosopher’s lifetime and after his death, but these were issued separately from one another, as will be seen in the specific discussion of each work. Even the Blaeu edition in Holland, which is moreover in Latin original: "en latin" (9 volumes, in-quarto A book size where each printed sheet is folded twice to create four leaves., 1682-1701), does not offer a true sense of unity; it was only after the fact, in 1692, that a catalog of the nine combined volumes appeared, as if their publication had been conceived according to a methodical plan. The Company of Booksellers original: "La Compagnie des Libraires," a powerful guild of publishers in Paris. in Paris issued a small edition from 1723 to 1729 which—with the exception of the Latin text of a few letters for which only translations had previously existed, and some French versions of Latin letters—is merely a reprint. Only the six volumes of Letters (1724-1725) offer sequential volume numbering; the seven other volumes, containing the rest of the Works, have only artificial volume numbering Volumes grouped together by a binder or collector that were not originally printed as a matching set.. It is therefore to Victor Cousin (as he rightly took pride in) that France owes an edition of the Complete Works of Descartes (11 volumes in-octavo A book size where each sheet is folded into eight leaves., Paris, Levrault, 1824-1826). However, in the first place, this edition is entirely in French; furthermore, the requirements of critical analysis, as well as the progress of scholarship, soon made even the editor himself recognize (as he gracefully admitted at the end of his life) that his work needed to be undertaken anew. Joseph Millet, author of a History of Descartes before 1637 (Paris, Didier, 1867), and after 1637 1637 is a pivotal year in philosophy, marking the publication of Descartes' "Discourse on the Method." (Paris, Dumoulin, 1870),

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