When Bernard de Fontenelle published the first
edition of his Entretiens sur la Pluralite des Mondes in
1686, it was an immediate success. In an age when women,
even those from the richest and most distinguished
families, received little or no formal education, it
offered an entertaining and accessible introduction to
astronomy and some of the burning topics of the day.
Does the earth really go around the sun? Are there other
inhabited planets out there? If so, are the inhabitants
like us or quite different? Is the moon itself
inhabited? Is even the sun inhabited? Are there
volcanoes on the moon? How hot is mercury? How long is a
Venusian day? Will flying machines one day take us to
the moon? Providing new notes, some illustrations and an
introduction, this new Tiger of the Stripe edition is
based on the 1808 edition of Elizabeth Gunning's
translation, retaining the charm which was so essential
for the book's success. Miss Gunning, a beautiful and
talented novelist with a rather racy personal life, drew
on an annotated French edition by the distinguished
French astronomer, Jerome de Lalande.This edition thus
offers an interesting accretion of ideas, ranging from
Fontenelle's 1686 edition and later revisions, Lalande's
(sometimes rather critical) comments, Gunning's
appropriately flowery translation, and our own
explanations for the modern reader. It is, without
doubt, a little gem. |
|