[DESCARTES, René (1596-1650)]. A Discourse of a Method for the well guiding of Reason, and the Discovery of Truth in the Sciences. London: printed by Thomas Newcombe to be sold at his house over against Baynards Castle, 1649.

The Andrade copy of the first edition in English of Descartes' monumental work. "It is no exaggeration to say that Descartes was the first of modern philosophers and one of the first of modern scientists; in both branches of learning his influence has been vast … Descartes's purpose is to find the simple indestructible proposition which gives to the universe and thought their order and system. Three points are made: the truth of thought, when thought is true to itself (thus cogito, ergo sum), the inevitable elevation of its partial state of our finite consciousness to its full state in the infinite existence of God, and the ultimate reduction of the material universe to extension and local movement. From these central propositions in logic, metaphysics and physics came the subsequent inquiries of Locke, Leibniz and Newton; from them stem all modern scientific and philosophic thought" (PMM). The French edition first appeared in 1637, and the translation prints Descartes's philosophical statement "I think, therefore, I am" for the first time. This copy with a variant title page with the imprint "Thomas Newcombe to be sold at his house over against Baynards Castle." See Norman 624.

Octavo (145 x 85mm). (Without the first three blanks, preliminaries expertly remargined and woodcut device on second page touched up in ink; gatherings g and h with neat repairs to top margin occasionally touching page numbers; d7 with repaired tear running through text). Modern calf. Provenance: Professor E.N. da C. Andrade, Fellow of the Royal Society (bookplate; his sale of scientific books, Sotheby's, 12 July 1965, lot 162) – Sotheby's New York, 10 December 2003, lot 64.