[Rarebooks] FS: Pascal's PENSEES, First Edition in English, 1688

[charles agvent]

PASCAL, BLAISE. MONSIEUR PASCALL'S THOUGHTS, MEDITATIONS, AND PRAYERS, 
TOUCHING MATTERS MORAL AND DIVINE, AS THEY WERE FOUND IN HIS 
PAPERS....  London: Jacob Tonson 1688. The First Edition in English of 
Pascal's classic Les Pensees (1665). Octavo, bound in early calf 
neatly rebacked at a later date in a slightly lighter shade of 
leather. Complete with front and rear blanks: [42], 375, [1] pages. 
The French mathematician and theologian, who invented the first 
digital calculator, wrestled with the inability of reason to 
understand God. His work with Fermat on the nature of probability 
presaged the development of modern decision theory, on the basis of 
which he argued that belief in God, although not rational, is a good 
bet: "Le coeur a ses raisons que le raison ne connait point" (The 
heart has its reasons that reason does not know at all.). Pascal died 
painfully at the age of 39 from what was likely cancer. Near Fine, 
complete copy of this classic.    $3500

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