CURABELLE, Jacques
[Examen des oeuvres du Sr. Desargues par J. Curabelle]
Examen, des oevvres, dv Sr. Desargves par, I. Cvrabelle. ...
A Paris (Place), de l'imprimerie de M. & I. Henault. Et se vendent, chez F. L'Anglois dit Chartres, marchand libraire,, 1644.
81, [1] p. : engr. illus. ; 30.5 cm. (4°)

Engraved title-page with title, diagram and privilege in frame above letterpress imprint. This work, part of a projected series (see the extract from the privilege, p. 3) is highly critical of Desargues' theories. When Desargues responded, Curabelle wrote an blistering sequel entitled Foiblesse pitoyable du Sr. G. Desargues, employée contre l'examen fait de ses oeuvres. 'Curabelle's use of his influence to procure a prohibition against [Abraham] Bosse teaching Desargues' methods at the Académie Royale de Peinture et Sculpture ... probably did more than anything else to obscure the latter's remarkable achievement until his rediscovery in the nineteenth century as the father of ... projective geometry.' (See BAL, Early printed books, vol. I, p. 189). Curabelle coined the term 'stereotomy' first used in this work.

Copy Notes Front free-endpaper inscribed From my esteemed Friend Geo: Wyat. / John Soane / 1789. George Wyatt, a wealthy builder, was the uncle of Elizabeth Soane, née Smith, whom Soane had married in 1784. Bound (1) with a collection of forty-four engraved suites by Jean Le Pautre, several imperfect or with additional plates, comprising a total of 263 plates. These can be identified as being an earlier state than that represented by the 1751 Jombert edition of Le Pautre's Oeuvres (q.v.), and at least one suite, 'Nouueaux desseins de Cheminées a peu de Frais ...', is an impression datable to after 9 October 1707 (cf. BAL, Early printed books, no. 1856).

Binding C18th tree calf, gilt-tooled spine with red leather spine-label.

Reference Number 2026

Additional Names Wyatt, George (d.$1790); Desargues, Gérard (1591--1661); Le Pautre, Jean (1618--1682)