Œuvres complètes de Christiaan Huygens publiées par la Société Hollandaise des Sciences

Abstract

EXACTLY a year after the seventh volume of Huygens' correspondence the eighth one has made its appearance. As it embraces nine years, and Huygens only lived ten years longer, we may expect that the ninth volume will be the last one devoted to his correspondence. The objection which we made a year ago to the many comparatively uninteresting private letters which have contributed so much to the huge extent to which this collection has grown, applies equally to the present volume. No doubt Huygens was very glad to get the pleasant, gossiping letters from his sister Susanna, who kept him up to what was going on in Holland during his stay in Paris, but posterity will hardly be equally grateful to the far too conscientious editors who have considered it a duty to insert them among Huygens' “Œuvres complètes.” One feels momentarily almost kindly disposed towards the niece of Peiresc, who ruthlessly destroyed ten thousand letters found after him.

Œuvres complètes de Christiaan Huygens publiées par la Société Hollandaise des Sciences.

Tome Huitième. Correspondance 1676–1684. Pp. 629. 4to. (La Haye: Nijhoff, 1899).