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RUDI THOEMMES RARE BOOKS ________________________________________________

Catalogue Sixty-One

New acquisitions

April 2018

5 Belvedere Road, Bristol BS6 7JG, UK +44 (0)117 974 4373 www.rrbltd.com

Philip de Bary philip@rrbltd.co.uk

Rudi Thoemmes rthoemmes@gmail.com

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1. [BURNETT, James, Lord MONBODDO] Of the Origin and Progress of Language. Edinburgh: J. Balfour & T. Cadell ... London, 1774-1809. £ 2500 6 volumes, 8vo, errata leaf present in vols V and VI, without engraved portrait as issued and as so often, scattered light foxing, generally good and fresh, bound in mid-nineteenth century half blue calf with tan morocco labels. This set, formerly in the library of the Society of Advocates of Aberdeen (with neat ownership marks to heads of title-pages), comprises second editions of volumes I-III, volume I with genuine 'large Additions and Corrections’ and volume II (printed as late as 1809), ‘To which are annexed Three Dissertations [on Greek, and the composition of the ancients]. And also an appendix, containing the author’s last additions’. Volumes IV - VI are first editions, concluding in 1792. This combination represents Monboddo’s final text. As Monboddo was an Aberdonian and a long-time member of the Society one suspects that the library was aware that these texts were the desirable ones. ECSB 588 (noting Monboddo’s Darwinian theories); Alston iii/842: ‘A work of fundamental importance, covering most aspects of the study of language’. Monboddo on language is among the most ambitious literary undertakings of the later eighteenth century. The notice in the Edinburgh Magazine and Review was filled with scorn, but Monboddo is today regarded as a pioneer in the study of the origin and transmission of language, and his writings have been receiving the sympathetic revaluation they deserve.

An unusual project

2. Rudolf CARNAP, G.E. MOORE, Bruno BAUCH, Karl GROOS, Max WUNDT and many others A collection of 61 philosophers' autographs, gathered between 1934 and 1957. £ 500 61 autographs mostly on uniform slips of paper (64mm x 100mm), 40 plain signed, a further 21 accompanied by press cuttings, obituaries, photos and other ephemera, each with a catalogue card meticulously recording the dates and affiliations of the person concerned, and the dates on which the signature was requested and received, all kept individually in clear plastic slipcases the size of a postcard. Nearly all the philosophers are German or Austrian, the exceptions being G.E. Moore, Samuel Alexander and H.J. Paton. Among the other names are Ernst von Aster, Bruno Bauch, Oscar Becker, Max Bense, Ernst Bergmann, Rudolf Carnap, Alois Dempf, Arthur Drews, Adolf Dyroff, Julius Ebbinghaus, Hans Eibl, Paul Feldkeller, Josef Geyser, Albert Görland, Heinrich Gompertz, Karl Groos, Thodor Häring, Heinz Heimsöth, Richard Hönigswald, Walter Kinkel, Oskar Kraus, Eugen Kühnemann, Georg Misch, Traugott Oesterreich, Helmuth Pleißner, Heinrich Rickert, Erich Rothacker, Christoph Schrempf, Emil Utitz and Max Wundt. The only clue to the identity of the collector comes above one of the autographs, where Prof. Kurt Hildebrandt has added: "Für die Sammlung von Herrn Dr Leichtle". His was a most unusual project, and he showed great persistence in following it through. From the cards one can see that he sometimes had to wait a long time (20 years in one case) between requesting a signature and finally receiving it. We wonder how many more he may have asked for but never got.

From the library of the Earls of Macclesfield

3. [CLIFFORD, Martin] A Treatise of Humane Reason. London: printed for Henry Brome, 1675. £ 440 12mo, [iv], 91 pp., contemporary panelled calf, rebacked, a very good copy from the Macclesfield Library, with the Sapere Aude armorial bookplate and blindstamps to the first two leaves. Second edition of a controversial work first published the previous year, by Martin Clifford (b. 1624), who was Master of the Charterhouse from 1671 until his death in 1677. 'In 1674 Clifford published anonymously in London A Treatise of Humane Reason, which stirred up a ten-year controversy by advancing the hypothesis of salvation even for an honest erring conscience. It was frequently reprinted. Not long after its publication Bishop Benjamin Laney of Ely dined with many ‘persons of quality’ in the Charterhouse, when he was asked about his opinion on that book. Undoubtedly unaware that he was in the presence of its author, the bishop answered that "twas no matter if all the copies were burnt and the author with them, knowing by what he had read in the book that the author makes every man's private fancy judge of religion" (ODNB).

One of 'the Big Four' 4. FEYERABEND, Paul Karl Collection of draft typescripts and offprints, 1956-65. £ 470 3 typescripts and 7 offprints, some signed, general condition very good. In 1957 Paul Feyerabend first went to the Minnesota Center for the Philosophy of Science in Minneapolis, where he met Herbert Feigl, Carl Hempel, Ernest Nagel, Hilary Putnam, and Adolf Grünbaum, among others. Around this time, many of Feyerabend's most important early papers were published, including several of those collected here: 1) 'Eine Bermerkung zum Neumannschen Beweis', offprint from Zeitschrift für Physik, Bd. 145, S. 421-423 (1956). 2) 'A Note on the Paradox of Analysis', offprint from Philosophical Studies, Vol. VII, no 6, December 1956, pp. 92-6. 3) 'On the quantum-theory of measurement', offprint from Colston Studies, Vol. IX, University of Bristol, 1957, pp. 121-30. 4) 'An Attempt at a Realistic Interpretation of Experience', offprint, Meeting of the Aristotelian Society, 10th Feb. 1958, pp. 143-70. 5) 'Comments on Rozeboom's Memo of November 6, 1958' (unpublished, mimeographed typescript, stapled, 10pp). 6) 'On the Interpretation of Scientific Theories' (mimeographed draft typescript with underlining and correction, stapled, 8 pp., published in 1960). 7) 'Das Problem der Existenz theoretischer Entitäten', offprint from Probleme der Wissenschaftstheorie, Festscrhift für Victor Kraft, Springer, 1960, pp. 37-72 8) Review of The Structure of Science by Ernest Nagel, stapled offprint from British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 17, 1961, pp. 237-49, signed by Feyerabend. 9) 'Reply to Criticism, Comments by Paul K. Feyerabend on Smart, Sellars and Putnam', offprint from Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 2, 1965, pp. 223-61. 10) Half-page typed précis of a Feyerabend seminar 'Continuity and Discontinuity of Changes in Nature', Adolf Grünbaum's copy with his signature, undated. 'Feyerabend will be remembered as an influential critic of positivism and empiricism, and as a co- founder of the notion of incommensurability. He will continue to be revered as champion of pluralism, who reshaped widely held views on the scientific method, and who argued that scientific progress needs to be protected from dogmatism through the proliferation of a plurality of competing views. His challenges to the objectivity of science continue to be fertile as a founding force for the mounting postmodernist movement in the philosophy of science and in the newer discipline of science studies. Together with Popper, Kuhn, and Lakatos, he was one of “The Big Four” philosophers of science of the second half of the twentieth century' (Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers, Thoemmes Press, 2005).

5. FONTENELLE, Bernard le Bovier de A Plurality of Worlds. Written in French by the Author of Dialogues of the Dead. Translated into English by Mr. Glanvill. London: Printed for R.W. and sold by Tho. Osbourne, 1702. £ 450 Small 8vo, engraved frontispiece and one folding plate, [xii], 156, [4] pp., contemporary panelled calf, spine gilt in compartments, slight worming at foot of gutter late on, a very good copy, from the library at Newton Surmaville, Somerset, with the family name Phelipps gilt-stamped supralibros. Third edition of Joseph Glanvill's translation of Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes by Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle (1657-1757), sometimes said to be the first successful populariser of science. His Entretiens take the form of a series of five witty conversations between a gallant philosopher and a fictitious marquise, who walk in the garden of the latter's chateau at night and gaze at the stars. The philosopher explains the heliocentric model of the universe and muses on the possibility of extraterrestrial life. The book was wildly successful and eventually translated into every major European language. There were two English translations published in 1688, one by Aphra Behn and this one by Joseph Glanvill, whom Richard H. Popkin called 'the most interesting sceptical thinker in England before Hume'.

item 5 item 6

6. [GREGORY, John] A Comparative View of the State and Faculties of Man with those of the Animal World. The Fifth Edition. London: J. Dodsley, 1772. £ 350 Small 8vo, xvi, 236, [4] pp., contemporary gilt-panelled calf, spine gilt in compartments with red morocco label, front joint cracked but holding firm, armorial bookplate of Edward Nicholas Hurt, title-page with contemporary inscription 'By Dr. John Gregory M.D. author of A Father's Legacy to his daughter [sic]', light spots on N3, otherwise pages clean and fresh, a very good copy. This was the physician John Gregory's most philosophically interesting contribution to the Scottish Enlightenment. The book grew out of papers presented to meetings of the Aberdeen Philosophical Society, or 'Wise Club', which Gregory had co-founded with his colleague Thomas Reid in 1758. Subsequent to its first publication in 1765 with 203 pages, Gregory altered the text of A Comparative View several times so that each successive printing by Dodsley differs from previous versions. 7. HUMBOLDT, Wilhelm von 'Ueber die Sorgfalt des Staates für die Sicherheit gegen auswärtige Feinde' (pp. 346-54), 'Ueber die Sittenverbesserung durch Anstalten des Staats' (pp. 419-43), 'Ueber öffentliche Staatserziehung' (pp. 597-606) in Berlinische Monatsschrift. Herausgegeben von Biester. Zwanzigster Band. Julius bis Dezember 1792. £ 275 The entire Volume 20, 8vo, 606 pp., one folding table, contemporary half calf over speckled boards, rubbed, uniform light browning, a bit heavier in places, generally very good. First printings of three very early Humboldt essays on political theory (or more precisely, the limits of state action) which formed part of a book-length manuscript that – because of the fear of censorship for its radicalism – was published only posthumously in 1851 under the title Ideen zu einem Versuch, die Gränzen der Wirksamkeit des Staats zu bestimmen. This was very influential on John Stuart Mill, who took a quotation from it as his epigraph to On Liberty.

The translation which first woke Kant from his dogmatic slumbers

8. HUME, David ermischte Schri en ber die andlung, die Manufakturen und die andern uellen des eichthums und der Macht eines Staats. Leip ig: Adam einrich ollens itwe, 17 with hilosophische ersuche ber die Menschliche Erkenntniß. Hamburg und Leipzig: Georg Christian Grund und Adam Heinrich Holle, 1755 [and] Sittenlehre der Gesellschaft. Hamburg und Leipzig: Georg Christian Grund und Adam Heinrich Holle, 1756 [and] Moralische und politische Versuche. Hamburg und Leipzig: Georg Christian Grund und Adam Heinrich Holle 1756. £ 4500 4 volumes, 8vo, viii, 392; [xxiv], 374; [iv], 280; [iv], 380 pp., particularly well rebound in contemporary style, the first 3 title-pages with library stamps and shelfmarks, the fourth underlaid with corner torn away and loss of text, uniform light browning, heavier in the last volume which also has taped repairs to the final leaf, overall a reasonable set, very seldom found complete in any condition. All four parts of Hume's Vermischte Schriften, the first translations into German of his 'Political Discourses', 'Enquiry concerning Human Understanding', 'Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals' and 'Essays Moral and Political'. Volume 1 is the second edition (first 1754), the others are all first editions. The translators are thought to have been J.G. Sulzer and H.A. Pistorius.

Immanuel Kant had a set of these first editions in his personal library (Warda, Immanuel Kants Bücher, X, 56), and it was through them that he had his primary access to Hume's philosophy. Kant himself did not read English, and a German translation of Hume's Treatise was not available until 1790-92. Thus it was through this very translation that, as Kant famously wrote, he was first woken from his dogmatic slumbers (Prolegomena, 1783, p. 13).

Hume's dispute with Rousseau

9. [HUME, David] A Concise and Genuine Account of the Dispute between Mr. Hume and Mr. Rousseau: with the Letters that passed between them during their Controversy. As also, the letters of the Hon. Mr. Walpole, and Mr. D’Alembert, relative to this extraordinary Affair. Translated from the French. London: printed for T. Becket and P.A. De Hondt, 1766. £ 7500 8vo, pp viii, 95, [1] pp., 20th-century half calf over marbled boards, small stab-holes in inner margins, outer leaves a little browned towards the edges, otherwise internally clean and fresh, a very good copy.

The rare first edition in English of Hume's Exposé succinct de la contestation qui s’est élevée entre M. Hume et M. Rousseau, originally published in Paris, but with a "Londres" imprint, in October 1766. This English edition, the first and only appearance of Hume's original text, was published on 18 November. This is Hume's own account of his bitter disagreement with Rousseau. The dispute stemmed from the publication of Emile, and the enormous amount of controversy and public antagonism towards Rousseau that ensued. Hume offered Rousseau asylum in England, and he duly arrived in England in January 1766. The publication of a spiteful letter by Horace Walpole, in the name of the King of Prussia, made Rousseau believe that there was a plot against him, and he ended up by quarrelling with Hume himself. The text here consists of correspondence between Hume and Rousseau, with connecting narrative passages and explanatory footnotes by Hume. Hume sent his manuscript account of the affair to d'Alembert and other friends in France but with no thought of publication. With his permission, certain changes were made and a preface added, and the book was printed in Paris in a translation made by Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Suard. Eventually Hume was persuaded to have his English original published as well. Originally he intended the French text to be translated for the English edition so that d'Alembert's alterations could be included, but on seeing the Paris version he changed his mind and instructed the publisher to follow his original English narrative. This English edition is much scarcer than any of the French versions and very seldom comes up for sale. Chuo 1: 79.

10. (HUME) [William ROSE] Review of 'A Concise and Genuine Account of the Dispute between Mr. Hume and Mr. Rousseau ... London, 1766' in The Monthly Review, London, November 1766, Vol. 35, pp. 390–402. £ 280 Disbound, 7 leaves loose, small stab-holes in the inner margins, pages clean and unbrowned, very good. See the previous item, no 9. This is the fullest of three reviews of it that appeared in the month following publication. The other two were in the Gentleman’s Magazine (5 pp.) and the Critical Review (3 pp.). 11. KANT, Immanuel 'Was heißt: sich im Denken orientiren?', pp. 304-330 in Berlinische Monatsschrift. Herausgegeben von F. Gedike und J.E. Biester. Achter Band. Julius bis Dezember, 1786. Berlin: Haude und Spener, 1786. £ 350 The entire Volume 8, 8vo, 580 pp., contemporary boards, rubbed and marked, internally clean with uniform light browning and no stamps or inscriptions. First printing of Kant's 'Orientation' essay, his contribution to the so-called 'Pantheismusstreit', the controversy that had arisen between Moses Mendelssohn and F.H. Jacobi over Lessing's alleged Spinozism. Kant takes Mendelssohn's side. Adickes 62. Altogether 15 essays by Kant made their first appearance in the 28-volume Berlinische Monatsschrift (1783-96), the main publication spreading the Enlightenment in Germany. 12. KANT, Immanuel 'Etwas über den Einfluß des Mondes auf die Witterung' (pp. 392-407) and 'Das Ende aller Dinge' (pp. 495-522) in Berlinische Monatsschrift. Herausgegeben von Biester. Dreiundzwanzigster Band. Januar bis Junius, 1794.

£ 450 The entire Volume 23, 8vo, 600 pp., one folding table, contemporary boards, rubbed and nicked at spine ends, no stamps or inscriptions, internally very good. First printings of two essays by Immanuel Kant, Adickes 80 and 81. The titles translate as 'Something about the Influence of the Moon on the Weather', and 'The End of All Things', the latter being the more important. 'Having endured the difficulties with the censors in getting the Religion published, Kant's outlook was anything but sanguine regarding the prospects for free thought and discussion of religious topics in Prussia. "The End of All Things" is a plea for Christians to be true to what is best in their religion by adopting a "liberal" way of thinking; but because it is a plea directed at the Prussian religious authorities, it is one Kant expects to fall on deaf ears. Thus it is couched in the form of a sly, bitter satire, which approaches its political theme only indirectly ... Kant's criticism of those who would meddle in God's affairs is a more or less open criticism of the orthodox in Prussia, who were trying to impose their vision of religious truth by political means. But the choice of the end of the world as his topic might also be seen simply as a way for Kant to express an attitude of black despair regarding the immediate prospects in Prussia for free communication and enlightened education in matters of religion' (Allen W. Wood, translator's introduction to the Cambridge University Press edition, 1996).

Early manuscript defence of the Critique of Pure Reason 13. (KANT, Immanuel) Einleitung in die Untersuchung des Erkenntnisvermögens, oder: Kritik der reinen Vernunft [undated but late 18th century]. £ 3850 4to, a 196-page manuscript in clear German cursive with some deletions and corrections, ink on clean paper with minimal spotting, edges untrimmed, bound in contemporary plain boards, condition very good. An extensive presentation and defence of Kant's theory of knowledge, probably written as the basis for a lecture or lectures. The text is appropriate to verbal presentation, in short and fairly punchy sentences. There are five main sections:

Einleitung (34 paragraphs) Theorie des Vorstellungsvermögens überhaupt (30 paragraphs) Theorie der Sinnlichkeit (35 paragraphs) Theorie des Verstandes (64 paragraphs) Kritik der bisherigen Methaphisick (21 paragraphs) Many of the paragraphs are supplemented by numbered "Anmerkungen", or further reflections. In these, the author shows himself to be a stout defender of Kant's controversial new theories: "Vor Kant ist es keinem eingefallen, die Gemüthsvermögen zu untersuchen, die Erkenntniße aus dem Erkennbaren zu schöpfen, und die Philosophie nicht von den so genannten Objeckten zu erbetteln. Man begehet keine tolle Freiheit, wenn man behauptet, daß es vor Kant wohl resonierende Köpfe und philosophische Versuche, aber eigentlich keine Philosophie und Philosophen gegeben habe". Neither does the author hold back on counter-criticism of Kant's critics: "Freilich aber wird zum Verstehen der Kantischen Kritik eine Kenntnis des Vorstellungsvermögens überhaupt (des Vorstellungsvermögens als Gattung) vorausgesetzt; ein Umstand aus welchem sich das Mißverstehen, Halbverstehen, und Mißdeuten der Kantischen Kritik begreifen läßt; aus eben diesem Umstande kömmts her, daß man so sehr über die Dunkelheit des Kantischen Werkes geseufzet, und Kant selbst als einen Schwärmer oder zum gelindesten als einen Doctor confusus bedaurte. Allein die Schuld lag wohl nicht an Kant, daß seine Leser nicht auf dem Punkte standen, auf welchem sie stehen müsten, wenn sie ihn verstehen sollten. Wer will Millionen mit Millionen multiplizieren, wenn er das Ein mal Eins noch nicht inne hat, oder gar multipliziert: 2 mal 2 ist ein Halbes?" We haven't been able to establish the identity of the author, or whether any printed version was made. The final sentence, however, announces a sequel: "Näher darüber in unseren zukünftigen moralischen Untersuchungen, wo wir für das Ens Entium einen begreiflicheren Gott wieder finden werden".

One of the earliest biographical accounts of Kant

14. (KANT) HASSE, Johann Gottfried Merkwürdige Aeusserungen Kant's von einem seiner Tischgenossen. Königsberg: Gottlieb Lebrecht Hering, 1804. £ 1250 8vo, [ii], 50 pp., contemporary blue wrappers with wear around the spine, the word 'Universität' in old crayon at foot of p. 1, no other inscriptions and no stamps, some light foxing mainly confined to the wide margins, a very good copy, edges uncut. First edition of one of the earliest biographical accounts of Immanuel Kant – 'Noteable remarks by Kant from one of his table companions'. Adickes 2791. The Königsberg professor J.G. Hasse was a close friend of Kant and a frequent guest at his dinner table. Later in 1804 a second edition was published by Nicolovius under the title 'Lezte Aeusserungen Kant's von einem seiner Tischgenossen. Zweyter Abdruck'. This first printing is extremely rare, WorldCat loctating only three institutional copies at the Universities of Nebraska and Columbia University, and the National Library of Poland. 'All in all, Hasse's Notable Remarks by Kant amount to a strange tribute. No wonder Sheffner found the book despicable, observing that "it would not be easy to put such a great number of trivialities, minutiae, and indelicacies on so few pages". Metzger, on the other hand, seems to have found in Hasse's ambiguities useful reminders of Kant's true character. Indeed, his Remarks on Kant can be seen as Metzger's attempt to put Hasse's remarks in a more proper light' (Manfre Kuehn, Kant: A Biography, p. 6).

15. LEWIS, Clarence Irving 'Realism or Phenomenalism?'. Presentation offprint of a paper delivered to the annual meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division, September 9, 1954. £ 80 8vo, 15 pp., stapled as issued, the offprint with a slight vertical crease, first page inscribed 'Compliments of C.I. Lewis'. From the Philosophical Review, vol. 64 (1955), pp. 233–47. 'C.I. Lewis (1883–1964) occupies a special place in the history of American philosophy, linking the era of William James and Josiah Royce with that of W. V. Quine. His career was defined by the particular standards of professionalism that had come to mark the American academy as the twentieth century progressed. Consequently, Lewis was never the public philosopher that James and Dewey were, and his thought traveled down pathways that were more readily navigated by other professionals than by the educated lay public. Still, Lewis was intensely aware of the impact that professional philosophy might have on the wider world, and much of his mature career was spent investigating the elements of human moral knowledge and action' (The Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers, Thoemmes Press, 2005).

16. [LOCKE, John] A Letter Concerning Toleration. Licensed, Octob. 3. 1689. The Second Edition Corrected. London: printed for Awnsham Churchill, 1690. £ 2500 12mo (130 x 74mm), [iv], 87, [5] pp., contemporary blind-tooled calf with double gilt fillet, rubbed and with slight wear to joints, closed tear to front free endpaper on which a small old owner's name, title-page with double rule at foot trimmed and small blemish at lower outer corner, otherwise internally fresh, a very well-preserved copy. Locke wrote the Letter Concerning Toleration in Latin, and it was first published as the Epistola de Tolerantia at Gouda in Holland in April 1689 before being translated into English by William Popple and published in London in October of that year. This second edition appeared in March 1690, and contains about 475 amendments including two dozen changes in wording, some of which may be due to Locke himself. Wing L2748; Yolton 4. 17. [MEHLIG, Johann Michael] Das erste schlimmste Buch, oder Historisch Critische Abhandlung von der Religionslästerlichen Schrift De Tribus Impostoribus. Chemnitz: Johann Cristoph Stößel, 1764. £ 450 8vo, [xii], 100 pp., contemporary marbled boards considerably worn, a waterstain running through and occasional spots, still an internally good wide-margined copy with no stamps or inscriptions, edges uncut. Rare first edition. Johann Michael Mehlig's was the first book devoted entirely to the notorius Traité des trois imposteurs in its French and Latin versions. WorldCat lists three library holdings in Germany and one in the Netherlands. As a Lutheran theologian, Mehlig (1716-77) was naturally very hostile towards the work's blasphemous message that 'Toutes les religions sont l'ouvrage de la politique', and that the eponymous 'Three Impostors' are Moses, Jesus Christ and Muhammad. The first printed version had been published in The Hague in 1719 by Charles Levier under the title La vie de Monsieur Benoit de Spinosa. For a long time its author was thought to be Jean-Maximilien Lucas, but Justin Champion of Royal Holloway College, who has published extensively on the background, thinks differently: 'the work in manuscript … had a massive clandestine circulation throughout the eighteenth century. … The dissection of the Traité has shown its sources to be a collage of much earlier discourses: Hobbes, Spinoza, Vanini, Pomponazzi, Campanella, and Machiavelli all rubbed shoulders with classical standards like Cicero. Although there have been many candidates for authorship ranging from Frederick II to French libertins érudits it now seems most likely that the compiler was a minor Dutch diplomat Jan Vroesen'. For a full account of the

dating, authorship and influence of this, 'the most widely diffused of all the illicit manuscripts' see Jonathan Israel, Radical Enlightenment, pp. 694-700 and passim. 18. MENDELSSOHN, Moses 'Ueber Freiheit und Nothwendigkeit', pp. 1-11 in Berlinische Monatsschrift. Herausgegeben von F. Gedike und J.E. Biester. Zweiter Band. Julius bis Dezember, 1783. Berlin: Haude und Spener, 1783. £ 140 The entire Volume 2, 8vo, 576 pp., without the portrait and the original printed wrappers, the six monthly issues bound in contemporary gilt-ruled boards, old paper shelf sticker, rubbed and with wear at corners, title-page stamped and a dampstain running through. Besides Mendelssohn's essay on freedom and necessity, the volume contains a piece by one of the editors (Biester) on Benjamin Franklin, and contributions from Joachim Heinrich Campe, Johann August Eberhard, Justus Möser and Johann Friedrich Zöllner, among many others. 19. MONTESQUIEU, Charles Louis de Secondat Oeuvres de Monsieur de Montesquieu. A Genève [Paris, Cazin], 1777. £ 400 4 volumes, 12mo, engraved frontispiece portrait by de Launay after Marillier, [iv], 312; [iv], 278; [iv], 284; [iv], 284 pp., contemporary pale calf with triple gilt-ruled panels, spines with gilt floral motifs and red labels, slight loss to two heads, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers, a fine set. A beautiful Cazin-printed edition of Montesquieu's classic in political theory, De L'esprit des loix, first published in Geneva in 1748. 'One of the most remarkable works of the eighteenth century. The scheme that emerges of a liberal benevolent monarchy limited by safeguards on individual liberty was to prove immensely influential … the United States Constitution in particular is a lasting tribute to the principles Montesquieu advocated' (PMM 197).

20. POPPER, Karl R. 'Philosophy of Science: A Personal Report', Offprint, pp. 155-91 in British Philosophy in the Mid-Century, ed. C.A. Mace. London: G. Allen & Unwin, 1957. £ 150 8vo, [ii], 36 pp., stapled as issued, with inserted loose a typed note from the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, giving Popper's addresses in California and England before and after August 1st 1957. Very rare first appearance in print of a lecture given at Peterhouse, Cambridge in Summer 1953. It was reprinted as Chapter 1 in Popper's famous collection Conjectures and Refutations (1963). WorldCat records just a single holding of the offprint at the Warburg Institute, University of London.

Karl Popper's copy 21. (POPPER) KENNEDY, Robert F. Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis. With Introductions by Robert S. McNamara and Harold Macmillan. Second printing. Signet Books, New York, NY, 1969. £ 400 Paperback, 192 pp., with a few signs of wear, lower 3 inches of front hinge torn, first leaf signed K.R. Popper with two of his postal addresses and a few annotations and underlinings by him in biro. Karl Popper's copy of the inside account of the Cuban missile crisis by President John F. Kennedy's brother Bobby, who at the time was US Attorney General. Apparently Popper used to recommend the book to all and sundry in his public talks. 'For a year, if not more, Popper kept on his desk a pile of mostly big books relating to the Cuban missile crisis. Andrej Sacharow's Memoirs provided the key to his own interest. Years ago, Popper had praised the Russian physicist and dissident on the occasion of the award of the Freedom Prize. Now he had discovered to his dismay that Sacharow was (as Popper insists on claiming) a "war criminal". He had not only contributed to producing the Soviet nuclear capacity, but advised Kruschev to install missiles in Cuba, and, if necessary, use them against the United States. Popper desperately wanted to undo his earlier praise ... (Ralph Dahrendorf, After 1989: Morals, Revolution and Civil Society, Palgrave, 1997, p. 113). 22. PRIESTLEY, Joseph A Harmony of the Evangelists in English; with Critical Dissertations, an Occasional Paraphrase, and Notes for the use of the Unlearned. London: J. Johnson, 1780. £ 350 4to, [ii], xxiv, 155, xxviii, 261 (p.158 misnumbered 356), [7] pp., folding engraved map of the Holy Land, contemporary gilt-panelled calf, smooth spine decorated gilt, slight loss to head, ownership signature of Francis Pratt (1771) on B2, a very nice copy. First edition, dedicated to Richard Price. Priestley's similar Harmony of the Evangelists in Greek was published three years earlier. Both works treat what would be known in later biblical scholarship as the 'synoptic problem' – that of the relation between the parallel but varying narratives in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. See Robert E. Schofield, The Enlightened Joseph Priestley: A Study of His Life and Work from 1773 to 1804, pp. 31ff.

'Another argument between Hilary and myself. Paul'

23. PUTNAM, Hilary Whitehall & FEYERABEND, Paul Karl A nice exchange between two major 20th-century philosophers, whose obvious liking for each other could sometimes turn to irritation. £ 400 Five draft typescripts, with Feyerabend's note on the first page of Putnam's original article, also notes by Feyerabend in pen to his first comments and a typed correction to his 'Rejoinder', light wear, especially to Putnam's final one-page comments. Putnam: ‘Three-Valued Logic’, to appear in Philosophical Studies (1957, mimeographed draft ts, 8 pp.) Feyerabend: Some Comments on H. Putnam's Paper 'Three-Valued Logic' (Sept. 3 1957 carbon ts, 2 pp.) Putnam: Comments on Feyerabend's 'Comments' (Sept. 3, 1957, carbon ts, 2 pp.) Feyerabend: Rejoinder to Putnam's 'Comments' (Sept. 4, 1957, carbon ts, 2 pp.) Putnam: Comments on 'Rejoinder' (Sept. 4, 1957, carbon ts, 1 p.).

One of the foundational works of analytic philosophy 24. RUSSELL, Bertrand The Principles of Mathematics. Cambridge, at the University Press, 1903. £ 850 Large 8vo, xxix, 534 pp., original dark blue cloth, rubbed at spine head and a little worn at corners, one small abrasion on lower board, presentation library bookplate and trace of a shelf label on the pastedown, a small stamp on title-page verso, in one bottom margin and on the final leaf, otherwise a good clean copy. First edition. The book we now know as The Principles of Mathematics is the first half, in plain English, of a projected two-volume work intended to establish the assimilation of mathematics to logic. The second, more technical, volume was never written because Russell discovered that his mentor, Alfred North Whitehead, planned to publish a similar work and they decided to collaborate. The result was Principia Mathematica, published in three volumes from 1910 to 1913. Russell worked on The Principles of Mathematics at a furious pace (according to Monk, drafting ten pages a day and 200,000 words in less than three months). He said that this period was 'the highest point of my life', and an 'intellectual honeymoon such as I have never experienced before or since'. ‘ e pointedly finished the manuscript on the very last day of 1900 (which, being a mathematician, he thought of as the last day of the nineteenth century). The book had an important part in publicising the work of Cantor and Frege to the English-speaking world’ (Edward Buckner, The Logic Museum).

The much-revised second edition

25. WHITEHEAD, Alfred North and RUSSELL, Bertrand Principia Mathematica. Second Edition. Cambridge, at the University Press, 1925-7. £ 7500 3 volumes, large 8vo, xlvi, 674, [1]; xxxi, 742, [1]; viii, 491 pp., original dark blue cloth panelled in blind and with gilt-lettered spines, lightly rubbed and with corners still sharp, some slight wear at spine ends of Vol. 1 and a little lightening towards the bottom of the second spine, ownership inscription of Maurice Cornforth (British Marxist philosopher) on the front free endpaper of Vol. 1, no other inscriptions, internally fresh and unmarked, a fine set. First printing of the second edition, produced entirely under Russell's supervision, with a new introduction and appendices by him. The second edition takes account of the main developments in the field since the first edition (1910-13), in particular Frank Plumpton Ramsey's essay on The Foundations of Mathematics.

‘The Principia was mainly inspired by the writing of Gottlob Frege, Georg Cantor, and Guiseppe Peano. At the heart of the treatment of mathematical logic in the Principia lies an exposition of sentential logic so well done that it has hardly been improved upon since ... the link with set theory is made by considering a set all the objects satisfying some propositional function. Different types, or levels, of propositional functions yield different types, or levels, of sets, so that the paradoxes in the construction of a set theory are avoided. Subsequently several parts of classical mathematics are reconstructed within the system’ (Dictionary of Scientific Biography). Blackwell and Ruja A9.2a.

Very few philosophy papers have had such a major effect

26. SMART, J.J.C. (Jack) 'Sensations and Brain Processes', presentation offprint from The Philosophical Review, Vol. LXVIII, No 2, April 1959 (pp. 141-156), and a mimeographed draft typescript of the same article (15 pages, foolscap) with a few corrections, and five other pieces by Smart, all signed or inscribed by him. £ 400 Altogether 7 items: 5 signed offprints and 2 corrected typescripts, general condition very good, the 'Sensations and Brain Processes' offprint fine. Jack Smart (1920-2012) was one of the great philosophers of the twentieth century, and this is his most famous paper which changed philosophy of mind forever. It puts forward his 'type-identity' theory of mind – that consciousness and sensations are nothing over and above (i.e. are precisely the same as, or identical with) physical processes in the brain. Invariably included in any collection of mind-body problem papers, it is now part of the canon; along with U.T. Place and David Armstrong, Jack Smart brought what was once 'the Australian heresy' into the philosophical mainstream. 'By the time ‘Sensations and Brain rocesses’ came out in 1959, Smart had been publishing regularly for ten years. However, it was this paper which made his name and for which he is still best known. Its impact was such that physicalism became almost immediately the central topic of debate in philosophy of mind. Not only that, but it won through to become the orthodoxy it is today. Very few philosophy papers have had such a major effect' (Dictionary of Twentieth-Century British Philosophers, Thoemmes Press, 2005).

The other pieces by Smart in this collection are: (3) 'Incompatible Colors', pp. 39-48 in Philosophical Studies, Vol. 10, no 3, April 1959, the whole issue, inscribed on the front wrapper 'Best wishes, Jack Smart'. (4) 'Colours', pp. 128-42 in Philosophy, Vol. 36, issue 137, April 1961, two small corrections in ink, no wrappers, inscribed 'Best wishes, Jack Smart' in pencil on first leaf. (5) 'Gödel's Theorem, Church's Theorem, and Mechanism', offprint from Synthese, Vol. XIII, no 2, June 1961, pp. 105-110, printed blue wrappers, inscribed 'Best wishes, Jack'. (6) Corrected typescript of a review of Ernst Nagel's The Structure of Science" (1961), carbon copy, 8 pages foolscap held by paperclip, numerous corrections and a note in Smart's hand 'Sent to Journal of Philosophy (U.S.A.)', where it was published in Vol. 59, no 8, 1962, pp. 216-23. (7) 'Quine's Philosophy of Science', offprint from Synthese, Vol. 19, 1968-9, pp. 3-13, printed blue wrappers, inscribed 'With best wishes, Jack'.

27. [TINDAL, Matthew] Christianity as old as the Creation: or the Gospel, a republication of the Religon of Nature. Volume I [all published]. London, 1730. £ 950 4to, viii, 432 pp., contemporary double gilt-ruled calf, spine in compartments with morocco label, rubbed with some small loss to spine ends, old Amsterdam bookplate on the pastedown, joints cracked but holding, the first and last few leaves lightly browned, otherwise fresh, generally a sound copy. First edition of what became known as ‘The Deist’s Bible’. Tindal’s book is the classic statement of the deist understanding of Christianity and was highly influential in England and on the Continent. Through Voltaire it profoundly affected the French freethinkers, and following its translation into German it laid the foundations for Biblical hermeneutics. In a nutshell, Tindal’s argument is that because (i) ‘no eligion can come from a Being of infinite idsom and erfection, but what is absolutely perfect’, and (ii) revelation cannot add anything to a perfect religion, and (iii) God wants us to be able to know all truths, then (iv) natural religion must have been available to humankind from the beginning – therefore (assuming that Christianity is the perfect religion) Christianity must be as old as the creation. The work as published is said to be ‘ olume I’, but no second volume ever came out and no manuscript for it survives.

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