[MIRABAUD (Jean-Baptiste de) - BERNARD (Jean-Frédéric) - LE MASCRIER (Jean-Baptiste). The World, its origin, and its antiquity. First part. - Of the soul, and its immortality. Second part. - Essay on chronology. London [Paris : Briasson], 1751. - 3 parts in one volume in-8, 164 x 102 : xij, 244 pp ; (2 ff.), 172 pp ; 72 pp. Red morocco, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, spine decorated, inner gilt roulette, gilt edges on marbling (period binding). First edition of this collection published by the priest Jean-Baptiste Le Mascrier (1697-1760) and the philosopher and lawyer César Chesneau Du Marsais (1676-1756). It brings together three texts respectively attributed to the bookseller Jean-Frédéric Bernard (1683?-1744), the philosopher Jean-Baptiste de Mirabaud (1675-1760), and Jean-Baptiste Le Mascrier. These are three of the great texts of materialist thought in France in the 18th century. The authors openly attacked the metaphysicians of their time who, according to them, only took up the Platonic theory of the spiritual soul, and, without claiming to expose a true system, recorded the opinions of the Ancients on the world, its structure, its formation, its revolutions, its destruction, as well as on the soul, its nature and its immortality. The work will be condemned by a decision of the Parliament. Beautiful copy in red morocco of the time. One corner slightly dulled, minimal wear and tear. Paper of the linings partly detached. Provenance : Du Moncel, with 19th century bookplate stenciled on the first endpaper.