Recueil D Observations Curieuses

Human Nature, Cultural Diversity, and the French Enlightenment

In this work, Henry Vyverberg traces the evolution and consequences of a crucial idea in French Enlightenment thought--the idea of human nature. Human nature was commonly seen as a broadly universal, unchanging entity, though perhaps modifiable by geographical, social, and historical factors. Enlightenment empiricism suggested a degree of cultural diversity that has often been underestimated in studies of the age. Evidence here is drawn from Diderot's celebrated Encyclopedia and from a vast range of writing by such Enlightenment notables as Voltaire, Rousseau, and d'Holbach. Vyverberg explains not only the age's undoubted fascination with uniformity in human nature, but also its acknowledgment of significant limitations on that uniformity. He shows that although the Enlightenment's historical sense was often blinkered by its notions of a uniform human nature, there were also cracks in this concept that developed during the Enlightenment itself.

Bibliotheca Pinelliana. A Catalogue of the Magnificent and Celebrated Library of Maffei Pinelli, Late of Venice: Comprehending an Unparalleled Collection of the Greek, Roman, and Italian Authors, from the Origin of Printing ... a Considerable Number of Curious Greek and Latin Manuscripts, of the 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. and 16. Centuries; ... on Monday March 2, 1789, and the Twenty-two Following Days, (Sunday Excepted); ... at the Great Room, Opposite the Chapel, in Conduit Street, Hanover Square, London ... Catalogues to be Had of Mess. Robson and Clarke, Booksellers New Bond Street; Mr. Edwards, Booksellers, Pall Mall; and of the Principal Booksellers Throughout Europe

Bibliotheca Pinelliana. A Catalogue of the Magnificent and Celebrated Library of Maffei Pinelli, Comprehending an Unparalleled Collection of the Greek, Roman, and Italian Authors, from the Origin of Printing: With Many of the Earliest Editions Printed Upon Vellum, and Finely Illuminated ; A Considerable Number of Curious Greek and Latin Manuscripts, of the XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. and XVI. Centuries ; And the Completest Specimen Hitherto Known to Exist, of an Instrument Written Upon the Ancient Egyptian Papyrus, A.D. 572