List 17 Ten First or Early Editions by Rene Descartes, David Hume & Arthur Schopenhauer including a Framed Hume Signature & a Schopenhauer Presentation Copy ATHENA RARE BOOKS 424 Riverside Drive, Fairfield, CT ‐ (203) 254‐2727 – [email protected] René Descartes [1596-1650] 1650 “Cogito Ergo Sum” – The Second Latin Edition of the Discours Specimina Philosophiæ: Seu Dissertatio de Methodo Recte regendæ rationis, & veritatis in scientiis investigandæ: Dioptice, et Meteora (The Proofs of Philosophy: The Discourse on the Method of Properly conducting the reason & seeking for truth in the sciences: Dioptics and Meteors), Ludovicum Elzevirium, Amstelodami [Amsterdam], 1650. TP + [i]-[xiii] = Index + 1-316; Small Quarto. Second Latin Edition of Descartes’ First Book. Guibert p. 105. $ 2,250 With printer’s woodcut device on the title and numerous woodcut illustrations and diagrams in the text. NOTE: the Geometri which appeared in the original Discours does not appear here. When Descartes published his famous Discours in 1637, it was written in the vernacular language, French. This was a radical thing to do in 1637 since all scholarly books at the time were written and published in Latin (Galileo’s Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems (1625-29) and the Discours (1637) are the two first important work of Western philosophy and science to be originally published in a vernacular language rather than Latin). This Latin translation from the French was done by Estienne de Courcelles and it contains Descartes’ most famous line (and perhaps the most famous single line ever written by a philosopher): “Cogito, ergo sum” (see page 28, line 22 of the present copy). Contemporary marbled paper over boards with a more recent, unmarked vellum spine. Overall, a clean and very pretty copy of a later issue of one of the most important works in the canon of Western Philosophy. 1650 First Latin Quarto Edition of Descartes’ Important Work on the Workings of the Body and Soul Passiones Animaæ (Passions of the Soul), Ludovicum Elzevirium, Amstelodami, 1650. TP + [i]-[ii] = Ad Lectorum + [iii]-[xxi] = Epistolae & Responsios + 1-65 + 77 + 67-98 + [99]-[103] = Index, Small Octavo. First Latin Quarto Edition. Guibert, pp. 158- 159. $ 2,250 The first Latin editions were published by Elzivier in 1650 in both 12mo and quarto formats – most likely simultaneously although the 12mo version is typically given priority. This Latin translation of the original French edition of Les passions de l’ame (1649) was done by Samuel and Henri des Marets. An English translation was also published in the same year. The Latin edition of Descartes' last work, Les passions de l’ame (1649), was written in Egmond-Binnen, his last Dutch residence, for Queen Christina of Sweden, and first published in the original French the previous year. It discusses psychology, ethics and the relationship between mind and body; Descartes believed that the soul was a definite entity giving rise to senses, thoughts, feelings, affections and acts of volition and he was one of the first to regard the brain as an organ which integrated the function of mind and body. Such beliefs had a powerful influence on the thinking of men like Robert Hooke, Giovanni Borelli, Jan Swammerdam and Thomas Willis, and, at a time when scientific research was expanding rapidly, Descartes' theories helped to explain the more puzzling problems of human physiology (see: Heirs of Hippocrates, no. 291). "Finally, he brought physiological psychology within the compass of his system in 'Les passions de l'aime' in 1649. This system aimed to be as complete as Aristotle's, which it was designed to replace. It was not by chance that it dealt in the same order with many of the same phenomena (such as the rainbow), as well as with others more recently investigated (such as magnetism)." (DSB) Later grey-blue paper over boards. The text is clean and tight. A nice copy of this important work by Descartes. 1668, 1678, 1683 Complete Latin Collection of Descartes’ Letters Epistolæ, Partim ab Auctore Latino sermone conscriptæ, partim ex Gallico translatæ. In quibus omnis generis quæstiones Philosophicæ tractantur, & explicantur plurimæ difficultates quæ in reliquis eius operibus occurrunt. Pars Prima (- Secunda) Danielem Elzevirium, Amstelodami, 1668 & 1678 [and] Epistolæ, Partim Latino sermone conscriptæ, partim è Gallico Latinim versae. In quibus respondet ad plures difficultates ipsi pro positas in Dioptrica, Geometria, variisque aliarum scentiarum subjectis. Pars Tertia, Blauiana, Amstelodami, 1683. Volume I: TP + [i]-[ii] = Præfatiuncula + [iii]-[vi] = Index + 1-383; Volume II: TP + [i]-[ii] = Eruditissimo = 1-404 + [405]-[408] = Index; Volume III: TP + [i]-[xiii] = Præfatio + [xiv] = Index + 1-427. Small Quarto. Complete Latin Edition. (Lettres de Descartes #9 [dating the second volume 1668] and #11, Guibert, pp. 88-92.) $ 5,200 With numerous woodcuts in text. The complete Latin edition of Descartes’ letters with a first edition copy of volume I (1668) by Elzevirium and their first edition, second printing of volume II (1678) along with a first edition copy of volume III, first published by Blauiana in 1683. Descartes letters were published piecemeal and erratically over the years. The first book of his letters – also in Latin – was published in 1643 and limited to those letters written in response to attacks on Cartesian philosophy by his academic enemy – the orthodox Calvinist, Voetius. In 1656 (six years after Descartes’ death) a small, 59-page octavo Latin volume was published that contained just Fragmenti ex Cartesii Epistolis. Following this, from 1657 through 1667, six editions of this ever-expanding collection of letters appeared in French. Then in 1668, Elzevirium published the expanded two- volume Latin collection [as here] that was enlarged yet again in 1682/3 when Bluiana reprinted Elzevirium’s two volumes and added a third. With the misnumbered pages at 151 [161] and 278 [378] as called for in Guibert for volume I. The second volume here is dated 1678 on the title page, rather than 1668 as called for in Guibert and does not contain the three first misnumberings noted in that bibliography (6 for 61, 74 for 64 and 206 for 106), but does have the final two distinctive misnumberings for that printing with 192 for 194 and 140 appearing where it should read 240. These only partially corrected mistakes would indicate that this is a second printing of the second volume by Elzevirium which was unknown to Guibert. Three matching volumes in full contemporary vellum with spine titles in a manuscript hand. There is a small armorial stamp in the mid- right-hand edge of each title page and a semi-circular discoloration to the lower right corner of the title page of Volume I. Otherwise, a truly gorgeous and impressive set of this complete edition of Descartes’ letters. David Hume [1711-1776] 1748 “A New Plane of Lucid Philosophical Exposition” Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding, A. Millar, London, 1748. 1 blank leaf + TP + iii-iv = Contents + 1-256 + [257]- [260] = Publisher’s ads, 12 mo. First Edition. $10,000 One of the rarest of his works in first edition, Hume intended the Philosophical Essays (whose title was changed to An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding in the 1758 edition) to replace Book I of the Treatise of Human Nature. He published the Essays against the advice of Henry Home (Lord Kames), writing to Oswald, “Our friend Harry is against this, as indiscreet. But in the first place, I think I am too deep engaged to think of a retreat. In the second place, I see not what bad consequences follow, in the present age, from the character of an infidel; especially if a man’s conduct be in other respects irreproachable.” To Home himself he wrote, “I won’t justify the prudence of this step, any other way than by expressing my indifference about all the consequences that may follow”. The main point of dispute was that the volume contained the essay “Of Miracles”, which had been written nearly two years earlier, for inclusion in the Treatise but was suppressed by Hume on Home’s advice. “In the Philosophical Essays Hume achieved a new plane of lucid philosophical exposition. Gone are the hesitations of the Treatise, the intricacies of detail, the tortured analysis – gone too, inevitably are some fine passages which had shown aspects of modern philosophy in the making, the autobiography, as it were, of a thinker in the act of thinking. The Philosophical Essays is a work of art, polished and impersonal.” (Mossner, p. 175) Contemporary calf with double-ruled gilt borders on front and back covers. Rebacked with original spine and label laid down. Spine with five raised bands, with worn gilt devices in each compartment and red morocco label. Expert repairs to top and bottom of spine. Old armorial bookplate of William Charles De Meuron, Earl Firzwilliam to inside front cover. Lightly foxed in places. Overall, a lovely copy of this hard to find work by Hume. 1757 David Hume’s Last Philosophical Writings An Association Copy – Owned by His Friend, Alexander Carlyle Four Dissertations. I. The Natural History of Religion. II. Of the Passions. III. Of Tragedy. IV. Of the Standard of Taste. Printed for A. Millar, London, 1757. Half title (with publisher’s ads on the verso) + TP + i-vii = Dedication + half title + [1]-240, 12mo. First Edition. $ 3,250 An interesting association copy, with the ownership signature of “Alex. Carlyle” on the inside of the front board (partially obscured by the remnants of the later bookplate of one ‘[Car]lyle Bell’). In addition, the ownership initials “AC” (in the same hand as the signature) are in the upper corner of the title page. Alexander Carlyle (1722-1805) was Hume’s good friend and a champion of the dedicatee’s play, Douglas.