HERVAS Y PANDURO, Lorenzo (1735-1809). Origin, formation, mechanism and harmony of idioms. Cesena: Gregorio Biasini, 1785. First autonomous edition, never passed in auction (RBH) of one of the fundamental works of the great Spanish linguist and Jesuit Lorenzo Hervás y Panduro, among the main exponents of the Spanish Universalist School and considered one of precursors of modern comparative linguistics. The volume, already published the previous year as the eighteenth tome of the monumental Idea of the universe (Cesena, 1778-1787), is the only independent reprint of the work and can therefore be considered a real first separate edition. The result of the studies completed during the years spent in the Spanish missions of America and later in the Italian exile following the suppression of the Society of Jesus, the Treaty systematically addresses the origin, formation and structure of languages, proposing one of the first classifications on a comparative basis of known idioms. Through the comparison of lexical roots, Hervás identifies affinities and differences between the main linguistic families, devoting particular attention to the indigenous languages of Hispanic America, which he directly knows. 4th, (250 x 190mm). Frontispiece with calcographic cartoon representing Minerva; 17 large tables folded for linguistic comparison; initials and xylographic endings; wrong in the end (occasional small tears to the white margins and minimal galleries of tarlo, without interest in the text). Coevo waiting cardboard bonding. (1)