NOTICE

original: "Avertissement"; a common term in 17th-19th century books for an introductory editorial note or foreword.

In 1662, there appeared in Leiden, from the house of Francis Moyard & Peter Leffen original: "apud Franciscum Moyardum & Petrum Leffen", a small quarto of 121 pages (plus 34 pages of an unpaginated Preface), under the following title: René Descartes on Man, provided with figures and Latin translation by Florent Schuyl, Senator of the Illustrious City of 's-Hertogenbosch, and Professor of Philosophy in the same place original: "Renatus Des Cartes De Homine, figuris & latinitate donatus à Florentio Schuyl, Inclytæ Urbis Sylvæ Ducis Senatore, & ibidem Philosophiæ Professore". The editor, Florent Schuyl, explained at the end of his Preface that he had produced this Latin translation from two copies of the French original, both preserved in Holland and placed at his disposal by two old friends of Descartes: Alphonse Pollot (whom he calls Alphonsus Palotti), and Antoine Studler van Surck, Lord of Bergen. Furthermore, Clerselier, having been informed of this project, reportedly strongly urged the author to carry it out.

In 1664, a bookseller in Paris, Jacques Le Gras, published a small octavo, the title of which is as follows: The World by Mr. Descartes, or The Treatise on Light, & the other principal objects of the Senses. With a Discourse on Local Motion, and another on Fevers, composed according to the principles of the same Author original: "Le Monde de Mr Descartes, ou Le Traitté de la Lumiere, & des autres principaux objets des Sens...", (260 pages for the first Treatise, and only 31 for the two Discourses, neither of which, moreover, is by Descartes). The privilege A "privilège du roi" was a legal grant of exclusive publication rights, an early form of copyright. for this small volume is dated October 18, 1663, "registered in the Book of the Community" of Booksellers on the following October 27. A Preface, signed D. R., informs us that the gift of this work to the public is the generosity of "Mr. D. A." (undoubtedly d’ALIBERT), who sent for the text of this treatise On the World, "almost at the ends of the Earth...