Venus Physique by Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis [Sixth Edition]

[Paris], 1751. [6], 240 pp. 12mo. Sixth Edition. Some scuffing to edge of covers, hinges cracked. Notations in pen on back of front endpapers. Second title page present (opposite p. 150). Full leather. Very good.

An early attempt at a materialistic explanation of the origin of species. This work anticipated Darwin by a century.