Category: Philosophy

LOCKE, John

LOCKE, John. The Works of John Locke Esq; In Three Volumes

London, Printed for John Churchill, 1714.

£950

Folio. 3 vols, pp. (8), xxviii, 575 (1), (16), with detached engraved plate of Locke’s epitaph (in Latin) at the beginning, but lacking original frontispiece portrait by George Vertue, dated 1713 (two similar though later engraved portraits are inserted); title page, 671 (1), (16); title page, (8), 668, (16). Part of vol. 2 contains ornaments used by William Bowyer. Titles within double-fillet borders, woodcut head-, tail-pieces (mainly fretwork) and floriated initials. Title pages soiled, text clean, crisp and fresh throughout. bookplate of Canon G. G. Walker glued to front pastedowns. Bound in later half sheep and buckram over boards, black morocco label with faded gilt lettering to spines. Some Rubbing and wear to corners and spines. Tender hinges. A good copy lacking the original portrait of the author.

ESTC T128627

 

 

 

IAMBLICHUS

IAMBLICHUS (GALE, Thomas, Tr.). De Mysteriis Liber

Oxford, E Theatro Sheldoniano, 1678.

£850

Folio. pp. (40), 316, (8). Title page with engraved vignette, double-column text (Latin and Greek). Title slightly soiled, very light age yellowing throughout. Generally clean and fresh. Marbled pastedowns and fore-edge. Bookplates of Richard Fort, Read Hall, and of C. E. De M. K. (initials). Contemporary full calf gilt, decorated turn-ins, spine richly decorated with floral motif and divided in 6 compartments. Red morocco label. Some slight wear on covers and corners.

ESTC R13749.

STANLEY, Thomas

STANLEY, Thomas. The History of Philosophy: containing the Lives, Opinions, Actions and Discourses of the Philosophers of every Sect. Illustrated with the Effigies of divers of Them. The Second Edition.

London, printed for Thomas Bassett, 1687.

£1850

Folio, pp. [xxviii] 1091 [i] including engraved portrait frontispiece. T3 (pp. 141/2) bound before T2 (pp. 139/40). Title in red and black. 26 engraved portraits of philosophers, a small engraving of a coin, an engraving of the orbits of the sun and planets around the earth, and a small woodcut musical illustration, all in text. Light age-browning, tears to X1 and 2C2, with no loss, bound in contemporary boards, rubbed, recently but sympathetically rebacked, red morocco gilt label. Inscriptions of Thomas Pindar, the first (on recto of front free endpaper) dated Kempley Court, June 30th 1690. Name-label bookplate on pastedown of Dr Gustavus Hinrichs.

‘In its account of “Those on whom the Attribute of Wise was conferred” in antiquity, with particular attention to Thales, Solon, and Socrates, the first volume established the pattern of “Lives and Opinions” followed in the later volumes. Volume 2 . . . included detailed accounts of the philosophical doctrines of Plato, Aristotle, and Stoicism . . . and volume 3 . . . encompasses Pythagoras and the pre-Socratics, Scepticism, and a particularly detailed and sympathetic account of Epicureanism . . . In these three volumes Stanley sought to give a comprehensive account of the various schools of Greek philosophy, in as impartial a way as possible: “there is due to every one the Commendation of their own Deserts”, he writes in the dedication to volume 1. A fourth folio volume, The History of the Chaldaick Philosophy . . . is briefer and more tentative in treating the occult learning of ancient Egypt, Babylonia, and Persia: “there is not any thing more difficult to be retrieved out of the Ruins of Antiquity than the learning of the Eastern Nations” . . . Stanley’s History of Philosophy was accepted as a standard authority for many years’ (Warren Chernaik, ‘Stanley, Thomas’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 60 vols., 2004, LII, 240–243. see 242).

Provenance: 1) from the collection of Thomas Pyndar: “Reginald Pyndar settled much of the estate in 1686 on the marriage of his son Thomas and Elizabeth Hacket. Thomas, who rebuilt the old manor house (Kempley Court), succeeded to the manor on Reginald’s death in 1712 and left it to Elizabeth at his in 1722.” (https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol12/196-222); 2) Gustavus Hinrichs (1836 – 1923): a physics professor from the University of Iowa and founder of the Iowa Weather Service.

Wing S 5239.

ARISTOTLE

ARISTOTLE. Ethicorum decem libri

Lyon, Symon Vincent, 1517.

£3500

Folio. a6 aa4 b-z6 A-B6 C8. Gothic letter, double column. Extensive title in red and black within decorated woodcut border in the guise of a classic portico. Woodcut printer’s device showing Saints Peter and Paul with their emblems, holding the Holy Shroud with Christ’s face (the “Vera Icon”) and inscribed with the motto “Salva Sancta Facies” (the title of Saint Veronica’s prayer, which became popular during the C15th);on the sides, illustrations of Juda’s kiss and Christ carrying the cross. Some attractive woodcut illustrations and initials in different sizes. Internally clean, slight browning and marginal waterstaining. Registrum partially scratched, which is incidentally repeated at the end of the table of contents. Some early Latin annotation in a neat hand. Bound in contemporary French calf, blind tooled, re-backed; substantial loss to spine, joints and extremities, contem. title inked to fore-edge as “Gilbertus in Ethica”, sewing guards with 15th-century ms waste. Remains of azzurre silk ties.

This is a rare and fine edition of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics translated into Latin by the Byzantine scholar Johannes Argyropulus for the Lord of Florence, Cosimo de’ Medici, who was one of the greatest patrons of arts and letters of his time. The text is here provided with the commentary of the Parisian theologian Gilbert Crab, who is shown in the act of addressing his pupils in one of the woodcuts at the beginning of the text.

This edition is very rare. According to USTC, only 3 copies can be located around the world: in Aberdeen, Munich and Paris. WorldCat lists only three other copies: in Freiburg, Stockholm and Seville. Not in Adams nor BMC.

USTC 123902.

 

[HOOKE. Robert, ed.]

HOOKE’S RARE CONTINUATION OF THE TRANSACTIONS

[HOOKE. Robert, ed.] Philosophical Collections

London, Printed for John Martyn, [Moses Pitt, Richard Chiswell], for the Royal Society, 1679-82.

£20000

FIRST EDITION. Compete set of 7 parts in one volume, 210 pp., 6 folding plates, one full-page engraving (no. 5, p. 161), one half-page engraving (no. 4, p. 92), Bound in modern half calf and buckram over boards by Sangorsky & Sutcliffe. A fine copy. 

The polymath Robert Hooke (1635-1703) was authorised by the Council of the Royal Society to publish the Philosophical Collections after the official Transactions ceased publication on Henry Odenburg’s death in 1677. Ordinary publication of the Transactions was resumed in January 1682- 3. The purpose of the journal was to provide an up-to-date account of any sicientific topic, such as physical, anatomical, chemical, mechanical, astronomical, optical, natural-philosophical and natural-historical observations, and to advertise the publication of such books. Complete sets of these seven numbers are very uncommon. The present volume also includes anatomical and medical studies. Hooke here published important papers, especailly An optical discourse, which concerned a cure for short-sightedness. One finds in the present collection Leeuwenhoek’s discovery of spermatozoa through the study of animal semen; Lana’s “flying chariot”; Borelli’s De motu musculorum; Tyson’s Anatomy of a porpess (sic); and astronomical observations by Hevelius, Flamsteed, and Cassini on the eclipse of Jupiter by the moon in 1679 and 1681. Furthermore, major discoveries by Malpighi, Moxon, Thomas Burnett, Edmund Halley, Bernoulli, and Leibniz are published in this series for the first time. The plates show Bernier’s flying machine, Borelli’s underwater breathing apparatus, and a new lamp invented by Robert Boyle. William Brigg’s A new theory of vision, a discussion of the optic nerves, is accompanied by a plate illustrating a dissected eye; this detailed physiological study of vision motivated Newton to republish it in 1685 with his own introduction. The Royal Society, founded in 1660, is the oldest scientific society in Great Britain and one of the oldest in Europe. Founders and early members included the scientist Bishop John Wilkins, the philosopher Joseph Glanvill, the mathematician John Wallis and the architect Christopher Wren, who wrote the preamble of its charter.

Keynes, Hooke 24. Norman 1100 (listing only 3 folding plates). See PMM 148 for the ‘Philosophical Transactions’.

POUILLY, Louis Jean Levesque de

[POUILLY, Louis Jean Levesque de]. The Theory of Agreeable Sensations : in which the Laws observed by Nature in the distribution of Pleasure are investigated ; and the Principles of Natural Theology and Moral Philosophy are established…A dissertation upon Harmony of Stile.

London, Printed for W. Owen, 1774.

£350

8vo, pp. x (half title, title, preface), ff. 3 (contents and errata), pp. 216. Early nineteenth-century ink autograph of “L. Ritchie” on verso of half title. Bound in contemporary calf over boards, restoration to corners. Recently skilfully rebacked. An excellent copy.

An excellent and unsullied copy of this treatise demonstrating that happiness, which, according to the author, is the end of moral theology, can be reached by pursuing virtuous behaviour and the law of nature. The French philosopher Pouilly (1691-1751) illustrates the theory of agreeable sensations, which are those sensations provoked in men by a righteous moral conduct. Only these, according to the author, can lead man towards the fullest happiness and respect of God. He also interpreted and commented on Newton’s Principia.

ESTC T79271

ARISTOTLE

A VERY IMPORTANT AND VALUABLE EDITION

ARISTOTELES. [Opera Omnia] Aristotelis Omnem logicam, rhetoricam, et poeticam disciplinam continens, tomus I [-VI]

Venice, [heirs of Aldo Manuzio the Elder, 1551-53] (colophon: apud Aldi filios, expensis nobilis viri Federici de Turrisanis eorum auunculi), 1551.

£6000

8vo. Vols 6, all lacking initial leaf (i.e. title pages): Titles: Aristotelis omnem logicam, rhetoricam, et poeticam disciplinam continens, Tomus I. (1551); Aristotelis De physica auscultatione, De coelo, De mundo ad Alex., De generatione et corruptione, et Meteorologicam disciplinam continens, Tomus II. (1551); Aristotelis De historia animalium disciplinam et reliquos huic disciplinae agnatos libros continens, Tomus III. (1553); Aristotelis Problemata cum Alex. Aphrodis. Probl. et mechanica, et metaphysices disciplinam continens, Tomus IIII. (1552); Aristotelis Moralia magna, et Moralia Eudem. et Moralia Nicomach. et Rei familiaris, civilis que disciplinam continens, Tomus V. (1552); Theophrastus. Theophrasti Historiam de plantis, et De causis plantarum, et quosdam alios ipsius libros continens, Tomus VI. (1552). Greek type, a little Roman. Decorated initials, large woodcut diagram on p. 122 of vol. 1, occasional early marginalia and underlining. Printer’s device on each t-p (here unfortunately wanting, as stated above) and also at end of each volume, except for vol. 3, which is complete without the final Aldine anchor. Light age yellowing to margins and occasional waterstaining. In early calf binding over boards with gilt ruled double fillet. Skilfully rebacked, perfectly blending in with the covers. Gilt spine in compartments with author’s name and volume numbers on red morocco labels. Bookplate showing the crest of the Clan Scott on pastedowns. A clean, fresh copy, unfortunately slightly incomplete. This most excellent and rare Aldine collection of Aristotle’s works printed in a handy 8vo format was the result of the erudite philological work of Federico Torresano. The brother of Giovanni Francesco and Maria, who married Aldo Manuzio the Elder, the “prince” of the Renaissance printers, Federico was son to Andrea Torresano the Elder, who trained in Nicolas Jenson’s workshop and then became Aldo’s first partner in business, together with Francesco Barbarigo. Federico was a learned editor of Ancient Greek and Latin authors and a successful printer active in Venice between 1538 and 1561. He married Paola, sister to Aldo. Besides editing several publications of classics, he took part in a printing enterprise called the Company of the Crown, which was devoted to the edition of law books, in association with other major families of printers active in Venice at the time, such as Gunti, Scoto, and Giolito de Ferrari. Adams, I, 1733; Goldsmid, p. 48: “a very valuable edition, rarely found complete”.

FICINO, Marsilio

FICINO, Marsilio. De Vita Libri tres, quorum Primus, de studiosorum Sanitate tuenda. Secundus, de Vita producenda. Tertius, de Vita coelitus comparanda.

Lyon, Apud Gulielmum Rouillium, sub scuto Veneto, 1560.

£2000

16mo, pp. 461 (iii), a-z A-F8. One work in three volumes bound together. Roman letter, some Italic. Title page with woodcut vignette of an eagle standing on a globe placed on a plinth and sided by two snakes; motto: “in virtute, / et fortuna.” Floriated initials, meanders, head- and tailpieces. Early ms. autograph in capital letters on front cover, twice, and in cursive on t-p: “Laurens Viguier”, probably the same person who left ink underlining and marginalia throughout the book. Stamp of the library of Saint Peter ad Vicula (Rome) on t-p and library shelf mark label on front pastedown. Some rare marginal spotting and light age browning to page edges. In a fine contemporary blind-ruled calf binding with gilt-tooled fleurons at centre of covers and towards corners; skilfully rebacked. A lovely copy.

The De vita libri tres (Three Books on Life) was written in the years 1480–89 by the Italian Platonist Marsilio Ficino. It was first circulated in manuscript form and then published on December 3, 1489. It was constantly in print throughout the middle of the seventeenth century. The present copy is an excellent pocket edition. The first book is about physical health, the second is about prolonging life, and the third (De vita coelitùs comparanda) is about astral influences. The work focuses not only on the soul and the body, but also, and especially, on the notion of “spiritus”. The work focuses on the health and wellbeing of the scholar. Scholars are described as being naturally prone to extremes of melancholy and thus the ambivalent influence of Saturn, which can be remediated by the influence of the benign planets (the Sun, Jupiter, Venus and Mercury). Ficino considers three types of things beneficial to the spirit: wines and aromatic substances, odours and clean air, and music. De vita is an amalgam of philosophy, medicine, magic, and astrology. Alongside passages explaining the immortality and divine source and nature of the soul, there are astrological charts and remedies, speeches from various Greek gods arguing with one another, philosophical digressions, medieval prescriptions for various ills, attempts at reconciling the Neoplatonism of Plotinus with Christian Scriptures, and magical remedies and talismans. Ficino was one of the major philosophical voices of the Italian Renaissance, but he was also a physician, and the son of a physician. De vita is an example of the medical thinking of the early Renaissance, steeped in Galen and Hippocrates and the theory of the four humours and their attendant Aristotelian qualities (e.g., hot, cold, moist,dry), but also beginning to align this viewpoint with the awakening sense of the archetypal significance of the pagan gods, derived from the first exposure in the West for many centuries to the dialogues of Plato and to the Corpus hermeticum.

Gültlingen X p. 128: 470; FB 70552; USTC 152867.

 

 

PHILOSTRATUS

PHILOSTRATUS (Blount, Charles, Tr.) The Two First Books, of Philostratus, Concerning the Life of Apollonius Tyaneus…

London, Printed for Nathaniel Thompson, 1680.

£1250

FIRST EDITION. Folio, pp. (viii) 243 (i), A-2G4 2H6. Roman and Italic letter. Title-page in black and red. Full-page woodcut chart on p. 145. Bound in contemporary mottled calf with morocco panels, blind-tooled and rebacked; covers, edges and corners restored. Inner hinges reinforced with woven tape. Some waterstaining throughout, a little light browning. A good copy.

Philostratus “the Athenian” was a Greek sophist of the Roman Imperial period. He is remembered for two works in particular: Lives of the Sophists and Life of Apollonius of Tyana. The latter was written between 217 and 238 AD, and tells the story of Apollonius of Tyana (c. 40 – c. 120 AD), a Pythagorean philosopher and teacher. Philostratus wrote the book for Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus and mother of Caracalla. The translator Charles Blount (1653-1693) was one of the leading deists of his time. He published the first of his major works, Anima Mundi, in 1679. It is an essay on pagan doctrines about the nature of the human soul and its destiny in the afterlife, drawing heavily on Montaigne. His Philostratus consists largely of his own notes to Philostratus, with roughly four pages of Blount to one of Philostratus. His commentary draws attention to analogies between Christ and Apollonius of Tyana, the miracle working mystic (or sham magician) Greek philosopher born just before Christ. John Leland in his View of the Principal Deistical Writers (1754) notes that Blount’s work was “manifestly intended to strike at revealed religion.” Justin A.I. Champion in The Dictionary of Seventeenth-Century British Philosophers notes: “The classical texts with its parallel between the life of the magus Apollonius and Christ was problematic enough; the inclusion of a digest of skeptical materialist, and irreligious material unencumbered with warnings of heterodoxy was to provide a provocative and dangerous resource to the literature public. There were consequently moves to have the work suppressed and even burnt.”

ESTC R4123; Wing (CD-ROM, 1996), P2132

 

ARISTOTLE (FIGLIUCCI, Felice)

ARISTOTLE (Figliucci, Felice, Ed.). Tradottione antica de la Rettorica d’Aristotile…

Padua, per M. Giacomo Fabriano, 1548.

£1600

8vo, ff. (viii) 184, a8 A-Z8. Large vignette on t-p with personification of the goddess Fortune (a nude female body reclining on a dolphin at sea and holding a swelled sail). Italic, a little Roman. Capital spaces with small guide-letters. A few handwritten maniculae. T-p soiled, wormholes and tracking slightly affecting the lower inside part of the front cover, foot margin of t-p and first two leaves without text loss. Pages lightly browned to margins, rare light waterstains. Ink title on spine, rubbed caps, slightly damaged. In early limp vellum with yapp edges, remains of ties.

Felice Figliucci (1518-1595) was an Italian humanist, philosopher, and theologian. Born in Siena, he studied philosophy at the University of Padua, where he learned Platonism and Aristotelianism, joining these two thoughts as in the humanistic tradition established by Marsilio Ficino and Pico della Mirandola, which effected the sixteenth-century Christian Neoplatonism. He devoted a good deal of his carrier to the edition of Ficino’s works. He was for a time in the service of Cardinal G. M. Ciocchi Del Monte, afterwards Pope Julius III. Figliucci promoted the Tuscan language and fostered its use in the translation of classics, considering it no less worthy than Latin. He attended the Council of Trent, which was transferred to Bologna in 1547, giving him so the opportunity to visit Padua frequently and work on his Tradottione, which was a present to his patron Del Monte. According to a spread literary topos of the time, in the preface to the work, this translation is given by Figliucci as the result of the learned efforts of an anonymous writer from Siena.

Only 5 copies known in the UK, according to COPAC (BL and UCL, in London; Manchester and Oxford universities, and one copy with the National trust)