I guess you'll find what you need in the monograph by J.V. Field and J.J. Gray, <A HREF="http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0007087400024444">The Geometrical Work of Girard Desargues</A>. > They give substantial critical and > exegetical commentaries as well as > valuable introductory essays placing > Desargues and his various works in > historical context. Particularly > attractive is the authors' > demonstration of how Desargues' highly > original ideas developed from the > contemporary technical mathematical > context, and their elegant exposition > of the importance of the 'practical > tradition of applied geometry' in > stimulating his work. Desargues had a limited range of interactions, which apparently did not include Kepler. Quoting from <A HREF="http://www.bookrags.com/research/girard-desargues-and-projective-geo-scit-03123/">Gale's Science and Its Times</A>: > Desargues spent > many years in Paris with a group of > mathematicians that included Descartes > and Pascal as well as the Jesuit > scientist Marin Mersenne (1588-1648) > and Etienne Pascal (1588-1651). > Desargues's work on projective > geometry was printed principally for > this limited readership of friends. > Unfortunately, however, his views were > very unorthodox and unpopular during > his life — Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) > was one of his few admirers. Only 50 > copies of his book on projective > geometry were printed, many of them > later destroyed by the publisher. > Desargues's work slipped into > obscurity for nearly 200 years after > the publication of his defining text > on the subject.