Social Sciences
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TRESSELL, Robert.
The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists. [1914]
£15,000
First edition, first impression. Robert Philippe Noonan (1870-1911) was the illegitimate son of an inspector in the Royal Irish Constabulary. He settled in South Africa for ten...
Octavo. Original black cloth, titles to spine and front board gilt. With the printed dust jacket. Housed in a green quarter morocco solander box made by The Chelsea... Read more
TOLKIEN, J. R. R.
The Reeve's Tale. 1939
£15,000
First edition, sole impression of The Reeve's Tale; offprint of Chaucer as Philologist. Both pamphlets were presented to Tolkien's friend and fellow philologist G. H. Cowling...
6 page pamphlet. Original white wrappers printed in black. [And] Octavo. Original blue-green wrappers. Housed in a black chemise. Wrappers to the first volume rubbed... Read more
![[Das Kapital, in Russian] Kapital. Kritika politicheskoi ekonomii.](/content/store/products/4000/2/5434.jpg)
MARX, Karl.
[Das Kapital, in Russian] Kapital. Kritika politicheskoi ekonomii. 1872
£10,000
First edition in Russian, the first foreign translation, of "the Bible of Marxism." This is the first translation to appear in any language, and the impact of it was greatest on the...
Octavo (236 × 153 mm). Contemporary Russian black half calf, blue pebble-grain cloth sides, spine with double gilt rules. Housed in a black quarter morocco... Read more
PLACE, Francis.
Illustrations and Proofs of the Principle of Population: 1822
£10,000
First edition of the foundation work of the modern birth-control movement, of great significance in economics, social history, and population theory. The book is rare on the market;...
Octavo (202 × 132 mm). Near-contemporary dark green watered (moiré) cloth, spine lettered in gilt. Cloth a little faded in the grain, occasional foxing and... Read more
FERGUSON, Adam.
An Essay on the History of Civil Society. 1767
£7,500
First edition of Ferguson's masterpiece, a key text of the Scottish Enlightenment. "The Essay touched a chord in its British readers because it offered a detailed, colourful,...
Quarto. Contemporary Scottish pale tan sprinkled calf, red morocco label, double gilt rules, red sprinkled edges. Engraved bookplate of Sir Henry Hay Makdougall Bart... Read more
GODWIN, William.
An Enquiry concerning Political Justice, 1793
£7,500
First edition of one of the most radical and far-reaching books of the years of revolution at the end of the 18th century, by the founder of philosophical anarchism. Published just...
2 volumes, quarto. Attractive contemporary half calf, flat spines with wide bands stained black and Greek-key rolls in blind, gilt-lettered direct, compartments... 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
WOLLSTONECRAFT, Mary.
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman 1792
£3,750
Second edition of the first great feminist treatise. Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797) argued in her groundbreaking manifesto, with its deliberate echo of Tom Paine, that the...
Octavo. Original buff backed blue boards, remnants of ink title to backstrip, uncut. Housed in blue, leather entry slipcase and chemise. Deckle edges a little rough,... Read more
SAUSSURE, Ferdinand de.
Cours de linguistique générale. 1916
£3,500
First edition of Saussure's most influential work, published posthumously in 1916 by former students Charles Bally and Albert Sechehaye on the basis of notes taken from his lectures...
Octavo. Original printed brown wrappers. Preserved in glassine wrapper and red morocco-backed folding case. A fine copy, rare thus. Read more
CHURCHILL, Winston S.
Autograph letter signed to Philip Morrell, concerning the National Land and Housing Demonstration, 1907. 1907
£3,250
Churchill writes to Morrell, MP for South Oxfordshire, philandering husband of Lady Ottoline Morrell, and in this context chairman of the executive of the National Land and Housing...
2 pages, 203 × 126 mm. Dated 22 Ap[ril] 1907, written recto and verso of the first leaf of a bifolium of Colonial Office stationery, embossed crest at the head.... Read more
CHURCHILL, Winston S.
Autograph letter signed to Philip Morrell declining to electioneer on his behalf at South Oxfordshire. 1904
£2,500
Dated 22 June 1904, on 105 Mount Street stationery. Churchill elegantly declines to appear in support of his Liberal colleague Morrell, as the Tory candidate Sir Robert Hermon Hodge...
Two pages, 203 × 125 mm. Recto and verso of the first leaf of a bifolium. Rust marks from a paper-clip to verso of first leaf and both sides of second leaf,... Read more
DURKHEIM, Emile.
De la Division du Travail Social. 1893
£2,500
First edition of the author's first major work and one of the founding texts in the field of sociology. The Division of Labour in Society was Durkheim's dissertation, which built on...
Octavo. Original blue-green wrappers printed in black. Housed in a green cloth folding case. Wrappers rubbed and marked with some dampstain, upper wrapper split from... Read more
FALCONER, William.
Remarks on the Influence of Climate, Situation, Nature of Country, Population, Nature of Food, and Way of Life, 1781
£2,000
First Edition of this wide-ranging survey of the influence of various environmental factors on human society. William Falconer (1744–1824) was a physician, educated at Edinburgh...
Quarto. Original blue paper boards, edges uncut, rebacked to style with plain paper backstrip and printed spine label; contemporary Parisian bookseller's pink ticket... Read more
HAYAKAWA, S. I.
Language In Action. 1939
£2,000
An early typescript of a fundamental work on language. The author was inspired by the work of groundbreaking semanticist Alfred Korzybski, applying his theories to sociology and...
Octavo. Original ring-bound typescript with blue covers printed in yellow. Ownership inscription to title page, pencilled underlining and notes throughout. Covers... Read more
DURKHEIM, Emile.
Les Regles de la Methode Sociologique. 1895
£2,000
First edition of the founding manifesto of sociology, which laid the ground-rules establishing it as a true science more akin to chemistry and biology than psychology or ethnography.
Octavo. Original blue-green wrappers printed in black. Housed in a grey cloth folding case. Wrappers rubbed and toned with some nicks and short closed tears, cracks... Read more
JOHNSTONE, Andrew.
Johnstone's London Commercial Guide, and Street Directory; 1818
£1,800
Second and last edition, improved from the first of the previous year by additions and corrections to 1 May 1818. Andrew Johnstone's London directory was a substantial work and by...
Octavo (206 × 128 mm). Contemporary black roan, smooth spine lettered and dated in gilt, small decorative motifs in compartments between gilt rules, sides with a... Read more
HILL, George Nesse.
An essay on the prevention and cure of insanity; with observations on the rules for the detection of pretenders to madness. 1814
£1,700
First edition. "George Nesse Hill (1766–1831) 'medical surgeon' of Chester wrote this critical compilation of 446 pages leavened by an appendix of 29 personally observed cases....
Octavo (225 × 137 mm). Original publisher's blue boards, rebacked with paper label to style. A little rubbed, some foxing and browning, but overall a very good... Read more
SPENGLER, Oswald.
Der Untergang des Abendlandes. Unrisse einer Morphologie der Weltgeschichte. 1918 & 1922
£1,500
First edition, first impression of both volumes of the landmark text postulating that Western civilisation was approaching its inevitable decline. Spengler analysed the histories of...
2 volumes, octavo. Publisher's maroon half morocco, spines gilt in compartments, patterned sides, brown top-stains. 3 folding letterpress tables. Bookplate to each... Read more
RUSSELL, Bertrand.
Education and the Social Order. 1932
£1,500
First edition, first impression, presentation copy to Lady Ottoline Morrell, inscribed on the front free endpaper by the author "O. from B."
Octavo. Original blue cloth, spine lettered in gilt, top edge stained blue. Spine a little sunned, an excellent copy. Read more
SMITH, Adam.
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. 1822
£1,500
A very good set.
3 volumes, octavo (210 × 137 mm). Contemporary green morocco, spine compartments in gilt and blind, red morocco labels, three-line rule to boards in blind, red... Read more
(RICKETTS, Ed.) PARRISH, Lydia.
Slave Songs of the Georgia Sea Islands. 1942
£1,300
First edition, first printing of a significant compilation of American roots music. The author spent 25 years living in the sea islands, exploring the region's unique Gullah culture...
Large octavo. Original black cloth, titles to spine and upper board in red and white with a plate from a photo to the upper board, red top-stain, pictorial endpapers.... Read more
PEACHAM, Henry.
The Compleat Gentleman: 1661
£1,250
Third edition, first published in 1622. The Compleat Gentleman "occupies a significant place in the history of courtesy literature. Its immediate inspiration was Peacham's...
Small quarto (183 × 140 mm). Contemporary dark calf, blind-ruled spine and boards, later red morocco spine label. Additional engraved title-page as frontispiece... Read more
MALTHUS, Thomas Robert.
An Essay on the Principle of Population; 1826
£1,250
Final lifetime edition, with Malthus's last revisions to what had grown exponentially from its original incarnation as a relatively modest essay in reaction to Godwin's Political...
2 vols., octavo. Original blue paper boards, drab paper backstrips, printed spine labels, edges uncut. Extremities worn, vertical spine crack in vol. I, one gathering... Read more
WOLLSTONECRAFT, Mary.
Letters written during a short residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. 1796
£1,250
First edition. Her lover Gilbert Imlay had suffered the theft of a valuable cargo by the Norwegian captain of his ship, and in 1794 suggested to Wollstonecraft that she travel there...
Octavo. Recent half calf to style, black morocco label, marbled sides, old blue sprinkled edges. With the final advert leaf listing Wollstonecraft's books from Johnson... Read more
PIGOU, Arthur Cecil.
The Economics of Welfare. 1920
£1,000
First edition, first impression. Pigou's major work, which virtually created the subject of welfare economics. Pigou developed Marshall's concept of externalities, costs imposed or...
Octavo. Original blue-green cloth, double line rules blind stamped to head and foot of boards continued in gilt to spine, titles to spine gilt. Boards rubbed, small... Read more
