The World: Works of Descartes, Volume 11

» original: "premier mot..." This continues the sentence from the previous page where Clerselier is critiquing Schuyl's translation choices. the first word of the first sentence, he gave it a phrasing that slightly disfigures the beginning. Indeed, if one considers this Treatise as a separate Book, detached from any other, what Mr. Descartes put at the opening seems to make no sense; and this is what deceived Mr. Schuyl, and what led him to change the Frontispiece In this context, "frontispiece" refers to the opening lines or the title section of the text rather than an illustration.. But if he had known that this Treatise is only a continuation of the Book of which he speaks in his Method Descartes' famous "Discourse on the Method" (1637), where he outlines his philosophical program., and that the original which I possess, and which I will show to anyone who wishes, is titled Chapter 18, he would have taken great care not to "correct" it. »

« This very Book has also recently been brought to light without my knowledge, under the title: THE WORLD OF MR. DESCARTES, OR TREATISE ON LIGHT. This refers to an unauthorized 1664 edition published in Holland just before Clerselier's own. People were also too hasty in printing it; and if the person who put it into the hands of the Bookseller had wished to have a little patience, and to restrain the zeal he showed for the public good, I would have satisfied him in this very printing, where my intention had been to include it; and I would have given it a more beautiful form, better-made Figures, and a more faithful text; which I might do one day. Addition to the second edition, 1677: And this is what will be seen executed in this second Edition; where, if we had wanted to put things in their natural order, we should have begun with this Book, and after that placed the Treatise on Man, which is only its continuation. But that would have caused too much change. This is why we did not stop to maintain this natural order in this printing, having judged that it would be easy for everyone to supply it while reading. »

« Nevertheless, I praise the zeal of both men, and though they have both fallen into some errors, they are undoubtedly quite pardonable, since they stem from such a noble motive. I am myself also partly the cause of Mr. Schuyl’s errors, and as he says very well in his Preface, I was one of those who urged him to work on this Project: for having learned that he had some Drawings by Mr. Descartes, which Mr. Pollot Alphonse Pollot (c. 1604–1668) was a French soldier and close friend of Descartes who lived in the Netherlands. had placed in his hands, I sent him the Letter that Mr. Pollot, his friend, had himself written to me about it, so that he could not doubt the information I had received; and I begged him to share these Drawings with me, along with the others that I had also been told he had invented, so that I might use them (if I found them accurate) for the printing I was planning, of which I would not fail to inform him. He received my request with all possible civility, and even granted me more than I...