‎(DELISLE DE SALES, J.B.C.; PSEUD. OF J.B. ISOARD.)‎
‎De la philosophie de la nature, ou traité de la morale pour le genre humain, tiré de la philosophie et fondé sur la nature. Cinqième édition et la seule conforme au manuscrit original.‎

‎A Londres, et se trouve dans la plûpart des capitales de l'Europe, 1789. With engraved frontispiece and 13 engraved plates. 7 volumes. (2), clxlii, 256 pp.; (2), 351 pp.; (2), 418 pp.; (2), 422 pp.; (2), 452 pp. (2), 419 pp.; (2), 413 pp. 8vo. Contemporary green half calf, spine gilt in compartments, title labels with gilt lettering, marbled boards. Peignot, Livres condamnés, i, pp. 96-98; Schosler p. 60; cf.: INED 1331; Darnton, The Corpus of Clandestine Literature in France 1769-1789, 542. Fifth, best and most complete editon of this work which forced the author into exile while his property was confiscated.Jean Baptiste Claude Isouard, writing as Delisle de Sales, published in 1766 his De la Philosophie de la Nature which caused a scandal for professing atheism and nihilism. The work was condamned to be burned, the author imprisoned and the censor exiled. Delisle filed for appeal and was supported by the whole circle of the philosophes who saw in him the champion of the liberty of thought and expression. The trial became a "cause célébre" in Europe: instead of an attack on the philosophes in general, which was the hidden agenda of the magistrates and Jansenists, the reading public appeared sympathetic to the ideas of the philosophes and turned Delisle's book into one of the greatest bestsellers of the century and made him an international celebrity. The magistrates and Parlement became the source of ridicule and outcry: swallowing the bitter pill, Parlement suspended Delisle's banishment and granted amnesty in 1777. The first edition of only three volumes was published in 1766 and it took the authorities some time to discover that the book was "matérialiste" and "spinoziste". ‎

Reference : 17955

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