[LA METTRIE (Julien Offray de)]. Histoire naturelle de l'âme, traduite de l'Anglois de M. Charp, Par feu M. H** de l'Académie des Sciences, &c. La Haye [Paris]: Jean Neaulme, 1745. - In-12, 166 x 98 : (6 ff.), 398 pp. Marbled calf, ornate spine, red edges (period binding). "Rare first edition of the most important philosophical work by philosopher and physician Julien Offray de La Mettrie (1709-1751), dedicated to Maupertuis. The work is the result of extensive research into the functions of understanding through anatomy, and can be summed up in the following propositions: "No sense, no ideas. The less sense, the fewer ideas. Little education, few ideas. Point de sensations reçues, point d'idées: l'âme dépend essentiellement des organes du corps avec lesquels elle se forme, croît et décroît" ("Revue philosophique de la France et de l'étranger", 1876, vol. 2, p. 634). This book is of great importance in the history of philosophy, as it represents one of the first materialist philosophical works, influencing the ideas of great 18th-century thinkers such as Rousseau, Diderot, Helvétius, Condillac, d'Alembert and d'Holbach. Published clandestinely, the text was seized and condemned to fire by the Paris parliament on July 7, 1746, along with Diderot's "Les Pensées philosophiques", both accused of undermining the foundations of religion and virtue. Binding skilfully restored, small loss at head cap. A few shorter margin leaves at head, leaves Y4 and Y5 slightly unbound."