VAUCANSON (Jacques de). Le mécanisme du fluteur automate. Paris Guérin, 1738 et a l'Hôtel de Longueville, dans la salle du Fluteur; 20 pp. bound with 5 other works. In-4 (244 x 190 mm), fawn calf, spine ribbed and decorated with gilt fleurons (contemporary binding). EXTREMELY RARE ORIGINAL EDITION published in June 1738 to accompany the exhibition of the famous human-sized automaton at the Hôtel de Longueville, Vaucanson's workshop. A "masterpiece of mechanics, a prodigy of genius", this first android performed its tunes using its breath, muscles, lungs and fingers just like a human being: "The wind coming out of his mouth forms the vibrations modified by his fingers. It is his fingers placed on the holes of the flute that vary the tones, that pinch them, that flatter them, that caress them...". (abbé Desfontaines, Observations sur les écrits modernes). The text, initially intended to convince the Académie des Sciences that it was not a hoax, is divided into two parts. The first details the entire mechanism that produces movement and sound with such nuance and subtlety: modulation of the force of breath required for different tones and octaves, position of the lips, pressure of the pectoral muscles, etc.; the second explains how the cylinder uses bellows, pulleys, blades, levers, pipes, elbows, etc. to command the android to perform these quasi-human actions. More than just a success with the general public, the Flûteur also raised philosophical questions, supporting materialist theories on the order of the universe, and was praised by La Mettrie and Voltaire, who did not hesitate to see in Vaucanson "a new Prometheus". The first showcase of Vaucanson's genius, the famous automaton was followed by other inventions and improvements based on the same principles, which paved the way for modern times. The second prospectus of Le Flûteur, accompanied by an engraving, was not published until the end of 1738. No copy of the first edition has been sold for 60 years; two copies of the second edition sold in Paris (2003) and in the United States (Ricky Jay Coll. 2021). A VERY BEAUTIFUL EXEMPLAIR, VERY ELEGANTLY BINDED AT THE TIME FOR A SCIENCE AMATEUR who noted at the head of the list of pieces set in suite: WINCKELMAN. Lettre... à M. le Comte de Brühl, ... sur les découvertes d'Herculanum. Paris, Le Breton, 1736; 107 pp. - MARTIN. Éclaircissemens... sur un projet de bibliothèque alphabétique; ibid, id. 55 pp. - BERNOUILLI. Recherches physiques et géométriques sur ... la propagation de la lumière. Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1736; 66 pp; (1) f. 1 plate; handwritten notes. - BOUGUER. Entretiens sur les causes de l'inclinaison de l'orbite des planètes. Paris, Jombert,1748. Second edition; 140 pp; pl. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSLATIONS of the Royal Society of London. Paris, Piget, 1737.