19th Dec, 2018 10:30 GMT/BST
Books, Maps & Ephemera
![Lot 28 - [Wilkins, John] The Discovery of a World in the Moone. Or, A Discourse Tending to Prove that...](https://tennants.blob.core.windows.net/stock/459517-0-small.jpg?v=63680812200000)
![Lot 28 - [Wilkins, John] The Discovery of a World in the Moone. Or, A Discourse Tending to Prove that...](https://tennants.blob.core.windows.net/stock/459517-1-small.jpg?v=63680812200000)
![Lot 28 - [Wilkins, John] The Discovery of a World in the Moone. Or, A Discourse Tending to Prove that...](https://tennants.blob.core.windows.net/stock/459517-0-medium.jpg?v=63680812200000 "Click for high resolution")
28
[Wilkins, John] The Discovery of a World in the Moone. Or, A Discourse Tending to Prove that...
The Discovery of a World in the Moone. Or, A Discourse Tending to Prove that 'tis probable there may be another Habitable World in that Planet. [Oxford]: Printed by E[dward].G[riffin]. for Michael Sparke and Edward Forrest, 1638. 8vo, half calf; pp. [8], 209, [5]; two-page title with wood cut illus., woodcuts to text. First edition, issue with "at" reading line 3 from bottom B1r.
John Wilkins, clergyman, polymath and brother-in-law of Cromwell, appears to have been genuinely liked by both sides during an era of controversy and civil war. Although a founder of the Royal Society, his early scientific works were in a popular vein with flights of fancy and suggestion. This is no exception, arguing in favour of dwellers on the moon and proposing that "the strangeness of this opinion is no sufficient reason why it should be rejected, because other certaine truths have beene formerly esteemed ridiculous, and great absurdities entertayned by common consent."
Sold for £3,000
Estimated at £2,000 - £3,000
Binding scuffed with loss, especially to head of spine, but clean internally.
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