Philosophy & History of Ideas (all items)
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HOBBES, Thomas.
Le corps Politique ou les elements de la loy morale et civile. 1652
£3,000
First edition in French of Hobbes’s first statement of his political theory. The treatise The Elements of Law was originally written in England and first distributed in...
12mo. Attractively bound in 18th-century French red morocco, smooth spine gilt in compartments with flowers, leaf-sprays and circles, green morocco label, sides with... Read more
HODNETT, P.
Sea Tales from the Far East. [c.1890]
£425
First edition. An alternative title at the head of the first tale is “Captain Hodnett’s Yarns of the Eastern Seas” which very much catches the flavour of this salty...
Octavo [iv], 36pp. Original blue cloth, title gilt to upper board. This copy inscribed “Mr. H. F. Nevile with the Author’s Compliments.” Endpapers... Read more
[HOLBACH, Baron Paul Henry Dietrich von]
Systême de la Nature. Ou Des Loix du Monde Physique & du Monde Moral. Par M. Mirabaud. 1770
£2,750
First edition, first issue (without the errata leaf, as often), of Holbach's most famous work, "the bible of materialism". Holbach, a man of vast humanistic and philosophical...
2 volumes, octavo (201 × 121 mm). Contemporary continental mottled calf, neatly rebacked with original gilt spines laid down, red and green morocco labels,... Read more
HORSLEY, J. W.
Jottings from Jail. 1887
£75
First edition. Penological comment from the “Late and last Chaplain of Her Majesty’s Prison, Clerkenwell.” Includes, “An Autobiography of a Thief, in...
Octavo, original yellow pictorial cloth. Slightly rubbed and soiled, a little cocked, mild toning, some relevant pencilled marginalia, overall very good. Read more
HOUSMAN, Laurence.
Ploughshare and Pruning-Hook. 1919
£95
First edition, first impression. Scarce in the dust jacket.
Octavo. Original linen-backed buff boards, titles to upper board gilt, white paper title label to spine printed in black. With the dust jacket. A superb copy in the... Read more
HOWARD, Henry, Earl of Northampton.
A Defensative against the poyson of supposed Prophesies. 1620
£2,750
First published in 1583, this second edition was published posthumously. Northampton (1540–1614) left the most remarkable body of writings of any early Stuart politician with...
Small folio (270 × 169 mm). Contemporary panelled calf, rebacked with original label laid down, inner hinges reinforced with cloth, corners restored, endpapers... Read more
HULME, T. E.
Speculations. Essays on Humanism and the Philosophy of Art. 1924
£975
First Edition. This collection of Hulme’s philosophical and cultural writings was published posthumously, its author having been killed during the First World War. It is...
Octavo. Finely bound by The Chelsea Bindery in full grey morocco, titles and box design to spine gilt, rule to boards gilt, inner dentelles gilt, marbled endpapers,... Read more
HULME, T. E.
Speculations. Essays on Humanism and the Philosophy of Art. 1924
£500
First Edition, with later state ads. This collection of Hulme’s philosophical and cultural writings was published posthumously, its author having been killed during WWI. It is...
Octavo. Publisher’s dark blue-green cloth, spine with lettering and publisher’s device in gilt. With adverts for Ogden’s International Library of... Read more
HUME, David.
Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects. A New Edition. 1758
£2,250
First quarto edition of the collection that had its origin in the cheap, four-volume duodecimo edition of Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects assembled by Hume’s publisher,...
Quarto (252 × 201 mm). Contemporary sprinkled calf, red morocco label, double gilt rules either side of raised bands, red sprinkled edges. Rubbed, some... Read more
HUXLEY, Aldous., & Gerald Heard.
Pacifism. Two Addresses 1935, 1936, 1937
£250
First editions of three of the author’s political pamphlets.
Octavo. Original printed wrappers. Lightly rubbed, tanning to spine and top edges of An Encyclopædia of Pacifism and What Are You Going to Do About It? Pen... Read more
![Pair of Illuminated Manuscripts [Litany and De Profundis].](/content/store/products/11274/2/11241.jpg)
(Illuminated Manuscript)
Pair of Illuminated Manuscripts [Litany and De Profundis]. 15th century, French.
£2,500
A beautiful pair of matching illuminated manuscripts. One leaf displays the beginning of the Litany from the First Friday Devotions, and the second presents part of Psalm 130,...
Single leaf manuscripts on vellum (195 × 150 mm). Handmade mahogany frames with gold leaf bevel laid on burgundy velvet. Read more
ITARD, Jean Marc Gaspard.
De l’éducation d’un homme sauvage, 1801
£4,750
First Edition of Itard’s first account of his attempted education of Victor, the Wild Boy of Aveyron. Itard was a French physician noted for his work with deaf-mutes, but his...
Octavo (197 × 126 cm). Later blue paper wrappers, edges trimmed. Etched portrait frontispiece depicting the Wild Boy; signed as usual by the author and the... Read more
JAMES, William.
Text-book of Psychology. 1892
£225
First thus, an abridgment of the author’s Principles of Psychology of 1890, his first published book. Bookplate of the pioneering American marine biologist Charles Atwood Kofoid...
Octavo. Original bottle green diapered cloth, title gilt to spine, blind rules to the boards, mid-green surface-paper endpapers. Diagrams to the text. A little... Read more
![The Works [The History of Our Lord; Sacred and Legendary Art; Legends of The Monastic Orders; Legends of the Madonna].](/content/store/products/629/2/766.jpg)
JAMESON, Anna Brownell.
The Works [The History of Our Lord; Sacred and Legendary Art; Legends of The Monastic Orders; Legends of the Madonna]. 1867–74
£475
An early reprint of the five-volume series Sacred and Legendary Art, beginning with the two volumes of that title (1848), followed by Legends of the Monastic Orders (1850), Legends...
6 volumes, octavo. Handsomely bound in full red crushed morocco, gilt titles and decoration to spines, elaborate gilt decoration to boards, gilt inner dentelles,... Read more
JENNINGS, David.
Jewish Antiquities; 1766
£125
First edition. From the library of Charles Edward Keyser (1847-1929), writer on architecture and archaeology.
2 volumes, octavo. Bound in full mottled calf, red label, raised bands, ex libris. Rubbing to spine ends and bindings, hinges cracked but holding, otherwise very good. Read more
JENNINGS, Hargrave.
The Rosicrucians Their Rites and Mysteries 1879
£250
Jennings began his literary career as a writer of sea-stories, but from about 1850 spent some twenty years researching and writing this, his best-known book. First published in 1870,...
Octavo. Original bright blue cloth, sides bordered with thick red rules, with red cross and gilt circular device in centre of front cover and elaborate gilt crosses in... Read more
JENNINGS, Oscar.
The Morphia Habit and Its Voluntary Renunciation. 1909
£575
First Edition, First Impression. The author’s most sustained work and a classic in the field. This first printing is scarce.
Octavo. Original grey-brown cloth, titles to spine gilt, all edges untrimmed. Almost entirely unopened, boards somewhat marked, spine a touch faded. Very good. Read more
JEVONS, W. Stanley.
Studies in Deductive Logic. 1880
£750
First Edition, First Impression, with the publisher’s ads to rear.
Octavo. Original brown boards, titles to spine gilt. Label to copyright page over erased library stamp, boards a little darkened otherwise a lovely bright, tight copy. Read more
JOHNSON, James Weldon.
Negro Americans, What Now? 1934
£475
First Edition, First Printing. Very scarce in this condition.
Octavo. Original red cloth, white paper title labels to upper board and spine printed in black, top edge stained red. With the dust jacket. Endpapers browned but an... Read more
(JOYCE, James) JUNG, C. G.
Ulysses. A Monologue. 1949
£100
First publication in English, offprinted from “Ulysses” published in Wirklichkeit der Seele in Zurich in 1934.
Octavo. Original brown wrappers printed in white. Spine a little worn, some light marks to edge of upper wrapper, contents toned. An excellent copy. Read more
(JOYCE, James) MCLUHAN, Marshall.
James Joyce: Trivial and Quadrivial. Spring 1953
£650
Offprint with the ownership inscription of poet and academic Ronald Bates to the upper wrapper and his pencilled notes to the contents.
Octavo. Original grey wrappers printed in black. Wrappers lightly rubbed and tanned, contents toned. An excellent copy. Read more
(JOYCE, James) WOOLSEY, Judge John.
United State of America. Libellant v. One book called “Ulysses” Random House Inc., Claimant. 1934
£7,500
First printings. The original mimeograph printing of Woolsey’s landmark opinion signed by Woolsey on the final page. By 1931 Joyce had received several offers from US publishers...
2 pieces. Original self wrappers. 8pp mimeographed leaves, rectos only, stapled at top left corner [and] original white wrappers printed in black. Housed together in a... Read more
(KAUFFER, E. McKnight) BIRKENHEAD, Earl of.
The World in 2030 A. D. [1930]
£275
First edition, first impression of a prescient work on the future of technology and human culture. Stunningly illustrated by Edward McKnight Kauffer (1890–1954), the artist and...
Octavo. Original black cloth, titles to spine and upper board in red. With the dust jacket. Frontispiece and 8 plates by Edward McKnight Kauffer. Ownership signature... Read more
KING, Martin Luther Jr.
Nobel Lecture. 1964
£250
First edition, first impression, one of a limited edition of 2000 copies for distribution to friends of the author and publisher. Includes the business card of Cass Canfield, Harper...
Octavo. Original white wrappers, titles and decoration to upper board in black and red. Very lightly rubbed. An excellent copy. Read more
KING, Martin Luther Jr.
Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community? 1967
£250
First edition, first printing. With secretarial signature on behalf of the author on the front free endpaper. King routinely had his assistants sign copies of his books and genuine...
Octavo. Original quarter black cloth, yellow paper boards, titles to spine gilt. With the dust jacket. An excellent copy in dust jacket with a tiny chip at the foot of... Read more
