Search results for: 'ues'
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ÉPRÉMESNIL, Jaques Duval d'. Correspondance sur une question politique d'agriculture.
Amsterdam & Paris : 1763
First edition of this printed correspondence between Épremesnil and Dupuy d'Emportes of the Academy of Florence, concerning agricultural issues, in which Éprémesnil stresses the importance of free trade. Épremesnil (1745-1794) later had an important role in pushing for the summoning of the Estates General, before defending the monarchy in the French... Learn More£450.00Stock Code: 123202
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BURLAMAQUI, Jean Jacques. Principes du droit naturel.
Geneva : 1747
First edition of the Swiss legal and political theorist's principal work, an important influence on the American Founding Fathers. A natural law professor at the University of Geneva, Burlamaqui (1694-1748) conceived of his treatise as a general introduction to his subject intended for students, but its success and influence far exceeded his expectations.... Learn More£3,500.00Stock Code: 113546
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[QUESNAY, François.] Physiocratie, ou constitution naturelle du gouvernement le plus avantageux au genre humain. Publié par Du Pont, des Sociétés Royales d'Agriculture de Soissons & d'Orléans, & Correspondant de la Société d'Émulation de Londres.
Pékin, and sold in Paris : 1767
First edition, the extremely rare first issue with the fictitious Pékin imprint on the title pages of both parts, in the corrected state. Issued thus to avoid French censorship, but in fact printed in Paris, the Pékin issue was printed in very small numbers and swiftly withdrawn because of a reference made by the editor, Pierre Samuel Du Pont de Nemours,... Learn More£110,000.00Stock Code: 124093
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HUME, David (contrib.); NAIGEON, Jacques André (ed.) Recueil philosophique
London (but Amsterdam) : 1770
First edition of this collection of philosophical essays by a number of authors, edited by Jacques André Naigeon. Of particular interest are essays nine and ten (the second and third in volume two), namely Hume's essays Of Suicide, and Of the Immortality of the Soul, here translated by Holbach.
Although originally written to form part of his... Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 142182
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VOLTAIRE - ZABUESNIG, Johann Christoph von. Historische und kritische Nachrichten von dem Leben und den Schriften des Herrn von Voltaire
Augsburg : 1777
First edition. Learn More£550.00Stock Code: 116580
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ROUSSEAU, Jean Jacques. The Confessions.
[New York?] : 1896
A very attractively printed and illustrated edition, handsomely bound, purporting to be the first complete English translation. The Confessions is among the most famous of all autobiographies, a masterpiece of the Enlightenment era, with shocking self-revelations, deep introspection, philosophical analysis, and a masterful literary style. Learn More£500.00Stock Code: 144580
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HOLBACH, Paul Henri Thiry, baron d'; Abraham Gaultier. Pieces Philosophiques.
[Amsterdam? : 1771
First collected edition of these three materialist texts. The first, Parite de la Vie & de la Mort by Abraham Gaultier, was first published in 1714, this being the second edition. Gaultier, like Bernard Mandeville and La Mettrie, was a physician turned philosopher; in the present treatise he offers an entirely materialist vision of the body and soul,... Learn More£1,350.00Stock Code: 128984
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TYSSOT DE PATOT, Simon. Voyages et avantures de Jaques Masse.
Bourdeaux [i.e. The Hague] : 1710 [i.e. around 1714]
First edition of this early utopian novel, "the best-known of all the radical philosophical novels of the Early Enlightenment" and which "surpassed practically every other work of philosophical fiction of the age for notoriety" (Israel, pp. liii and lvi). The novel details a Frenchman shipwrecked off South Africa - the co-ordinates are given as 60E/44S,... Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 123204
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HUME, David. Œuvres philosophiques de M. D. Hume. Traduites de l'anglois. Tome premier [- septième]. Nouvelle édition.
London : 1788
Most complete edition, by virtue of the inclusion of Hume's writings on economics, being the third, enlarged edition of the second French collected works of Hume, first published in 1759-64. "The contents are differently ordered and vol. 7... is an addition, containing seven of the Political Discourses of 1752 translated by Mlle. de la Chaux" in 1767... Learn More£2,250.00Stock Code: 113403
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LAMBERT, Johann Heinrich. Neues Organon
Leipzig : 1764
First edition, scarce in commerce, of the Swiss polymath's principal philosophical treatise, "the most comprehensive theoretical elaboration of the idea of a 'mathesis universalis'" (Arndt) envisaged by Descartes and Leibniz, containing one of the first appearances of the term "phenomenology". We can trace no copies having appeared at auction outside... Learn More£3,500.00Stock Code: 139740
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BERKELEY, George. Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous.
London : 1713
First edition, first issue (of 1713, later reissued with a new title page in 1725), of Berkeley's Dialogues, written as a popular exposition of his philosophical system, very uncommon on the market.
The Dialogues develop for a popular audience the ideas put forward in his Essay towards a New Theory of Vision (1709) and the first part of A Treatise... Learn More£12,500.00Stock Code: 145537
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HOBBES, Thomas. Œuvres philosophiques et politiques.
Neufchatel : 1787
First collected edition in French. It includes the young Huguenot intellectual Samuel Sorbière's popular translation of "De cive" (first 1649); a translation of "De corpore politico", long attributed to Sorbière but now thought to have been by prolific translator John Davies (Malcolm, pp. 464-5); and "Human Nature" translated by the prominent French... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 120538
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DIDEROT, Denis. Œuvres philosophiques et dramatiques.
Amsterdam : 1772
First edition of Diderot's collected philosophical and theatrical works. It is rare to find a complete set as each volume has both a collective title page and its own, and could have been sold separately.
There were two editions of published in Amsterdam that year, the other being the octavo-format edition of Marc Michel Rey, though the present... Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 128660
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BERKELEY, George. Siris: A Chain of Philosophical Reflexions and Inquiries Concerning the Virtues of Tar Water,
Dublin : 1744
First edition, presentation copy with "From the Author" written in a contemporary hand on the front free endpaper, and from the library of the Bloomsbury Group member Lytton Strachey, with his bookplate to the front pastedown. Strachey's library contained various works by 18th-century philosophers, reflecting his own interest in philosophy and the intense... Learn More£1,750.00Stock Code: 135077
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DIDEROT, Denis. Œuvres philosophiques et dramatiques.
Amsterdam : 1772
First edition of Diderot's collected philosophical and theatrical works. It is rare to find a complete set as each volume has both a collective title page and its own, and could have been sold separately.
There were two editions of published in Amsterdam that year, the other being the octavo-format edition of Marc Michel Rey, though the present... Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 141232
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CORDEMOY, Louis Géraud de. A Philosophicall Discourse concerning Speech,
London : 1668
First edition in English. Géraud de Cordemoy (1626-1684), philosopher, historian and lawyer, was one of the leading Cartesians of his day; his Discours de la parole was first published at Paris in the same year, 1668. "In his day, judging from the speed with which his writings were translated into Latin and English, Cordemoy was a highly respected,... Learn More£1,000.00Stock Code: 110051
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EHLERS, Martin. Ueber die Lehre von der mensclichen Freyheit und über die Mittel, zu einer hohen Stufe der menschlichen Freyheit zu gelangen.
Dessau : [1782]
First edition, notably rare, of the Kiel professor of philosophy and educational reformer's treatise on liberty, this copy from the celebrated Franziska von Hohenheim collection. The work was printed by the Buchhandlung der Gelehrten at Dessau in Saxony-Anhalt, founded in 1781. The press allowed authors greater freedom than usual over size, type, and... Learn More£5,500.00Stock Code: 132784
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[MABLY, Gabriel Bonnot de.] Entretiens de Phocion,
Amsterdam : 1763
First edition, further editions followed in 1766 and 1767; published in English in 1769 as Phocion's Conversations, or, the Relation between Morality and Politics. The major work of the French philosopher and writer Gabriel Bonnot de Mably (1709-1785), a series of dialogues with the 4th century BC Athenian statesman Phocion. Mably's works exerted a... Learn More£650.00Stock Code: 96593
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HUTCHESON, Francis. An Inquiry into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue;
London : 1726
Second edition, expanded and enlarged, first published the previous year. The philosopher Francis Hutcheson (1694-1746), a major influence on the Scottish enlightenment, wrote the present treatises on aesthetics and ethics while running a private academy in Dublin. Borrowing heavily from Shaftesbury, Hutcheson argues in favour of an inborn moral sense,... Learn More£850.00Stock Code: 128586
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KIRWAN, Richard. Logick: Or, an Essay on the Elements, Principles, and Different Modes of Reasoning.
London : 1807
First edition. Richard Kirwan (1733-1812) was an Irish chemist and mineralogist who turned to philosophical writing in the latter years of his life. His writings included a lengthy critique of Hume's philosophy in 1801 and a staunch defence of Berkeley's immaterialism in 1811. Partly written to counter the popularity of Locke's ideas, in the present... Learn More£500.00Stock Code: 124216
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ROUSSEL DE LA TOUR. Richesse de l'état, à laquelle on a ajouté les Pièces qui ont paru pour & contre.
Amsterdam : 1764
First collected edition, with the titular essay first published in an 8 page pamphlet the previous year. This "rare compilation" (Higgs) contains 16 of the author's tracts, run together continuously and not separated on the pages. Of these, the title essay is most important; "this tract, proposing a single tax, graduated in twenty groups of 100,000... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 123214
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MORE, Hannah. Christian Morals.
London : 1813
First edition. The leading bluestocking of her generation, Hannah More (1745-1833) and her four sisters were educated so as to earn a living for themselves, and ran a very successful and well-respected boarding-school for girls in Bristol. "More's role as moral guardian of the nation became increasingly politicized as a consequence of the French Revolution.... Learn More£175.00Stock Code: 140267
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KANT, Immanuel. Kleine Schriften.
Neuwied : 1793
First collected edition of any of Kant's writings, comprising seven articles first published in the periodicals Berlinische Monatsschrift and Teutscher Merkur from 1784 to 1791, here extracted and published without his permission. These include "Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist Aufklärung?" (first 1784, his famous definition of Enlightenment written... Learn More£750.00Stock Code: 141222
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[KANT, Immanuel.] Träume eines Geistersehers, erläutert durch Träume der Metaphysik.
Königsberg : 1766
First edition, first issue, of Kant's curious treatise examining the concept of a world of spirits, published anonymously, and written in response to the fantastic spiritualist claims of Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg. It is commercially scarce, recorded as having appeared just three times at auction, none of which were copies of the first issue... Learn More£1,750.00Stock Code: 141950
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HOME, Henry, Lord Kames. Elements of Criticism.
Edinburgh : 1762
First edition of Kames's large and systematic philosophical and aesthetic treatise, rare on the market. This work is the most important result of the Scottish aesthetic movement, and "the most comprehensive work on aesthetics of the 18th century since Du Bos' Réflexions critiques of 1719" (translated from Dobai, Die Kunstliteratur des Klassizismus... Learn More£1,750.00Stock Code: 94906
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REINHOLD, Karl Leonhard. Versuch einer neuen Theorie des menschlichen Vorstellungsvermögens.
Prague & Jena, : 1789
First edition of the author's chief work, his attempt to simplify and unify Kantian theory. Reinhold (1757- 1823) was a key figure in popularizing Kantian ideas in the late 18th century, and was among the philosopher's earliest and most successful advocates. However he also sought to amend the flaws in Kant's philosophy, and in so doing, his reading... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 127808
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HELVÉTIUS, Claude-Adrien. De l'Esprit.
Paris : 1758
Rare first edition, printing B, of the controversial French Enlightenment philosopher's most radical work, "On the Mind", with annotations transcribed from those made by Jean-Jacques Rousseau in his own personal copy, thus foregrounding the importance of Helvétius and Rousseau's dialogue to contemporary and subsequent readings of De l'Esprit.
In... Learn More£2,500.00Stock Code: 117797
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HUME, David. An Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals.
London : 1751
First edition, first issue, a reworking of part three of his Treatise of Human Nature. "No work, it seems, gave Hume himself more pleasure: 'in my own opinion (who ought not to judge on that subject), it is of all my writings, historical, philosophical, or literary, incomparably the best' ('My Own Life', in Essays, xxxvi). Instead of abridging the Treatise,... Learn More£4,750.00Stock Code: 135995
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HUME, David. Dissertations sur les passions sur la tragedie sur la règle du gout.
Amsterdam : 1759
First separate edition in French of three of Hume's Four Dissertations, first published in English in 1757: The Natural History of Religion, Of the Passions, Of Tragedy, and Of the Standard of Taste, translated into French by Johann Bernhard Merian. The volume was originally issued as volume four of Schneider's Oeuvres philosophiques de Mr. D. Hume,... Learn More£175.00Stock Code: 93433
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[SERVAN, Joseph.] Le Soldat citoyen,
Dans le pays de la liberté [Neuchâtel] : 1780
First edition of the author's advocacy of universal and compulsory conscription as the only certain way to unite citizens and the army. "A career officer since the 1760s, Joseph Servan (1741-1808) won notoriety in 1780 with the publication of Le Soldat citoyen, a long and detailed plan for reforming the army. Its central theme foreshadowed the Revolution... Learn More£650.00Stock Code: 113091
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KANT, Immanuel. Critik der Urtheilskraft.
Berlin and Libau : 1790
First edition of the Critique of Judgement, Kant's third most important work after the critiques of Pure and Practical Reason, and the scarcest of the three.
"The work consists of two main parts, the first dealing with the aesthetic judgment, the second with the teleological judgment or judgment of the purposiveness in Nature; and it is of considerable... Learn More£6,750.00Stock Code: 138455
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CONDORCET, Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de. Esquisse d'un tableau historique des progrès de l'esprit humain.
Paris : [1795]
First edition of the finest and most durable expression of the ultimate perfectibility of man. "The prophetic view of the tenth epoch shows Condorcet at his most original. He forecasts the destruction of inequality between nations and classes, and the improvement, intellectual, moral and physical, of human nature. Unlike Godwin, he does not preach absolute... Learn More£1,850.00Stock Code: 123001
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DUPONT DE NEMOURS, Pierre Samuel. Sur l'éducation nationale dans les États-Unis d'Amérique. Seconde édition.
Paris : 1812.
Stated second edition but apparently the first printed. Schelle cites a "Philadelphia 1800" edition (no. 74) but we have been unable to locate a copy and it is apparently unrecorded. Dupont had published in 1793 a work of 47 pages entitled Vues sur l'éducation nationale par un cultivateur ou moyen de simplifier l'instruction, de la rendre à la fois... Learn More£1,250.00Stock Code: 113624
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HUME, David - RITCHIE, Thomas Edward. An Account of the Life and Writings of David Hume, Esq.
London : 1807
First edition of the first book-length biography of Hume. Ritchie was critical of Hume's achievements as a metaphysician and as a moralist, with his works suggesting that Ritchie himself was a disciple of Thomas Reid, whose philosophy was antithetical to Hume's. Ritchie is also dismissive of Hume's essays, criticising their conciseness. However, Hume's... Learn More£500.00Stock Code: 124769
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KANT, Immanuel. Kritika chistago razuma.
St Petersburg : 1867
First edition in Russian of the Critique of Pure Reason, translated by the Russian professor of philosophy M. I. Vladislavlev. Genuinely scarce, WorldCat locating just six copies in institutional holdings worldwide (3 in the US, 2 in Canada, 1 in Poland), and appearing just twice in auction records across the past 25 years.
"Unquestionably one... Learn More£6,750.00Stock Code: 125690
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LA METTRIE, Julien Offray de. Les Animaux plus que Machines.
[Berlin : 1750
First edition of La Mettrie's ironic refutation of his own L'Homme Machine of 1748. The present treatise continues to espouse La Mettrie's materialistic vision of the world, and was written during the author's stay in Berlin under the protection of Frederick the Great, although its radical themes still led La Mettrie and the publisher to conceal their... Learn More£1,500.00Stock Code: 128985
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PRIESTLEY, Joseph. Letters to a Philosophical Unbeliever.
Birmingham : 1787
First edition of the second part, second edition of the first part (first published in 1780). The Letters form part of a series of publications by Priestley in the last two decades of the 18th century rejecting the atheistic and sceptical philosophy then ascendant. Priestley conceived the project on his visit to Paris in 1774, where he recorded that... Learn More£400.00Stock Code: 136695
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LA FONTAINE, Jean de. Fables choisies, mises en vers.
Paris : 1755-9
First edition, large-paper issue, and one of a small number printed on thick holland paper, of "one of the most ambitious and successful of all illustrated books" (Ray). Jean-Baptiste Oudry's sketches for La Fontaine's Fables were executed for his own enjoyment between 1729 and 1735. They were purchased by the publisher Montenault, who asked the finest... Learn More£37,500.00Stock Code: 135957
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REINHOLD, Karl Leonhard. Briefe über die Kantische Philosophie.
Leipzig : 1790-1792
First edition in book form of both parts of this overview of Kantian philosophy, which Kant himself praised. Reinhold (1757- 1823) was a key figure in popularizing Kantian ideas in the late 18th century. His Briefe über die Kantische Philosophie was first published in the Teutscher Merkur (1786-87), which, together with publication in the present book-form,... Learn More£800.00Stock Code: 138449
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REINHOLD, Karl Leonhard. Versuch einer neuen Theorie des menschlichen Vorstellungsvermögens.
Prague & Jena, : 1789
First edition of the author's chief work, his attempt to simplify and unify Kantian theory. Reinhold (1757- 1823) was a key figure in popularizing Kantian ideas in the late 18th century, and was among the philosopher's earliest and most successful advocates. However he also sought to amend the flaws in Kant's philosophy, and in so doing, his reading... Learn More£975.00Stock Code: 138459
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MANDEVILLE, Bernard. The Fable of the Bees:
London : 1714
Rare first edition, first issue, of this "celebrated work, which through Adam Smith, had an immense influence on political economy" (Foxwell). The work originated in 1705 as a poem titled The Grumbling Hive (essentially unobtainable in the market); this is the first edition to contain the 20 "Remarks" which annotate and explain various lines in the... Learn More£17,500.00Stock Code: 138116
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KANT, Immanuel. Critik der Urtheilskraft.
Frankfurt and Leipzig : 1792
Early edition, first published in 1790, in a contemporary German binding, fresh and unrestored.
The Critique of Judgement is Kant's third most important work after the critiques of Pure and Practical Reason. "The work consists of two main parts, the first dealing with the aesthetic judgment, the second with the teleological judgement or judgement... Learn More£375.00Stock Code: 143996