Philosophy & Religion Books

1934. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1934. Original full red cloth with gilt line-borders to boards, original dust-jacket, somewhat worn, with a red label over the price and chips and nicks to extremities. Minor loss to corners of dust-jacket, and a large loss of upper part of spine of dust-jacket (ca. 6 x 2 cm), thus lacking the title to spine of dust-jacket, and leaving the cloth of the same part of the spine sunned and the gilding of the title on spine almost faded off. Some soiling to dust-jacket. Internally nice and clean. X, (2), 204 pp. An excellent presentation copy of this scarce first edition of the great logician's first book, which is the published version of his doctoral thesis, hailed by Whitehead as a landmark in the history of symbolic logic.Inscribed by Quine "To F. Gomes Cassidy, historian of/ languages, from Van Quine, manu-/ facturer of one. Mathematical/ truth is linguistic convention,/ and logic is the [four Chinese characters]".Frederic Gomez Cassidy… Read More

1623. London, Joannis Haviland, 1623 [later altered in manuscript to 1624]. Small folio. Bound in a lovely early 19th century full vellum binding with gilt borders to boards and gilt ornamentations and gilt title-label to spine.Lower front hinge cracked, but bindning still tight. A bit of edge wear, but overall very nice. Woodcut title-vignettes (burning heart) and woodcut initials in beginning. Text within single woodcut borders. (18), 493, (1 - errata) pp. Complete with both title-pages (no final blank). Old owner's name to title page (along with the dates 1624 and 1648), unlegible scribbles to second title-page, and "collated e perfect" in old hand to last leaf. A very nice and clean copy with good margins. The extremely rare first edition of what is arguably Bacon's main work "De Augmentis Scientiarum", in which he sets out to lay the foundations of science entirely anew and reform the process of knowledge for the advancement of learning. Bacon believes that the advancement of learning will… Read More

Hardcover. Fine. 4to. Bound in 20th-century 1/4-vellum over marbled boards. Strasbourg: Matthias Schürer, July 1510. Second Strasbourg edition of Erasmus heavily annotated collection of Greek and Latin proverbs. Printed in Roman and Greek types. This is the original version, containing 818 adages, which is considerably shorter than the later expanded versions published under the title Adagiorum chiliades. (Adams E-420; Bezzel, Erasmusdrucke, 50; Van der Haeghen, Bibliotheca Erasmiana, p.25-6; Bibl. Belgica II, 276: no. E.61; Muller, Strasbourg II, p. 179, no. 45.) The Adagia could only have been possible in the new world of European education, in which careful attention to a broader range of classical texts produced a much fuller picture of the literature of antiquity. Its impact has been long lasting. Such popular expressions such as one step at a time, between a rock and a hard place, break the ice, an iron in the fire, looking a gift horse in the mouth, and many other sayings can trace their… Read More

London: Edward Stanford,, 1864 First edition of Jevons's rare second book and his first on logic. . Original blue pebble-grain cloth, paper labels on spine and front cover. . Small octavo. Labels a bit chipped,spine darkened, but a very good copy. Modern bookplate on front pastedown. "This was a period of rapid development in symbolic logic, primarily influenced by the work of George Boole and Augustus de Morgan. Following the lead which they had given, Jevons developed a system of what he called 'combinational' logic, which incorporated yet significantly simplified and improved upon the algebraic approach and notation used by Boole and De Morgan in attempting to set out the laws of reasoning. This system was essentially a logic of terms or classes, based upon a principle to which Jevons gave the name of 'the substitution of similars'… New Palgrave Dictionary.

Amsterdam: Jan Rieuwertsz, 1677. Very Good. Quarto (21 cm); [40], 614, [34], 112, [8] pages. Woodcut device on title page; tail-pieces; initials. Woodcut diagrams and illustrations in text. Text mostly in Latin, some translated from Dutch, and some in Hebrew. Contents: I. Ethica, more geometrico demonstrata -- II. Politica -- III. De emendatione intellectus -- IV. Epistolae, & ad eas responsiones -- V. Compendium grammatices linguae Hebraeae. Full golden brown calf tooled in blind with border rules and panel rules enclosing small tooled fleurons, larger vegetal ornaments at corners of panel extending out toward the edges. Subtly rebacked. Speckled edges. Old ownership inscription on title page of "T. Lynford," possibly Thomas Lynford (d. 1724), a British divine once canon of Westminster Abbey. Title page slightly browned at edges, but otherwise an unmarred copy in excellent condition! Reference: Norman, 1988; see also PMM 153 ("The 'Opera posthuma' ... have served, then and since, ...… Read More

8vo. 19th- century ½-vellum. Venice: (Damianus de Mediolano, de Gorgonzola) 16 Nov. 1493. (ISTC No.: ig00602500; H 8207; GW 11804). Guido de Monte Rochen's Manipulus curatorum is considered the most important of the medieval pastoral manuals. (It was not made obsolete until the Council of Trent in 1566.) It is especially important as a key example of the intersection of religious doctrine and practice. The author attempts to make centuries of theology and canon law comprehensible for the priest of little learning and, in turn, for his parishioners. No other work did this as successfully. Binding slightly bent; title page a bit dusty; a few leaves misnumbered in manuscript; o/w a fine copy with large margins of this rare incunable. No known copies in the United States.

Paris: Guliemi Rouillij et Philippi G. Rouillij, 1563. First Edition. vellum. Very good. The Nature of Things (PMM 87) LUCRETIUS, Carus Titus. De Rerum Natura. Libri Sex. A Dionysio Lambino. Monstroliensi litterarum Graecarum in vrbe Lutetia, doctore Regio, locis innumerabilibus ex auctoritate quinque codicum manuscriptorum emendati, atque in antiquum acnatiium statum fere restituti, & pretarea breuibus, & perquam vtilibus commentariis illustrati. Guliemi Rouillij et Philippi G. Rouillij, Paris, 1563. 1 blank leaf + TP + [iii] - [xiv] = Karolo Valesio Nono + [xv] - [xvi] = Dionysius Lambinus + [xvii] - [xix] = Idem erudito Lectori + [xx] = Avratus in Lucretium + [xxi] - [xxii] = Philippus Galterus + [xxii] - [xxiv] = errata + 1 - 559 + 1 blank leaf, Small Quarto. First Lambin Edition. PMM 87 Denis Lambin [1520-1572] was a French classical scholar and professor of Latin & Greek. One of the grandest and most moving poems in the Latin language, Lucretius' work has delighted inquiring minds in every… Read More

Københaffn, Ludowich Dietz,1550Folio. A bit later full vellum binding with title in contemporary to spine. 552 leaves, including the two blanks. With all the half-titles (rarely seen). 25 leaves in front and back with repairs. Several smaller repairs and marginal inforcements. A few leaves with loss of text. A few leaves presumably supplied from another copy. Scattered damp stains. Several name from previous owners (presumably priests). Complete.The first Danish folio Bible: "The editio princeps of the Bible in Danish",very rarely seen complete."This first translation of the entire Bible stands as a monument of the Danish Reformation, and the influence it excercised, both at the time and subsequently, cannot be overemphasized. The translation was commanded by King ChristianIII, and nothing was spared in order to make it as perfect as possible.The best danish theologians worked on the translation,but it was not until 1548 that the work had progresses so far that a printing could be implemented.... A… Read More

Paris: [Par Jacques Kerver], 1561. BOOK OF HOURS. Heures de nostre dame a l'usage de Paris... Paris: Par Jacques Kerver, 1561]. Printed on vellum. Octavo (6 7/8 x 4 1/4 inches; 175 x 110 mm). With Calendar. With eight large oval illuminated miniatures in the calendar, forty-one full page miniatures, some with borders, and some without for a total of forty-nine large miniatures. And with thirty smaller miniatures in the text of saints and other holy figures. With 171 of 184 leaves. Text leaves after calendar are numbered XV- CLCCCI, and the 14 previous leaves not numbered. Of these 14 preliminary and calendar leaves, present copy is lacking A1-A5, (Title-page, next page and the months January-April). Also lacking B6 (the calendar facing the miniature for December). Text pages lacking leaves D2, I7, K7, V1, and Z6-8. Text ruled in red. Numerous illuminated one and two-line initial heightend in gold with alternating red and blue backgrounds. Miniatures are beautifully hand-colored and heightened in… Read More

London: Printed, and are to be sold by the Booksellers of London and Westminster, 1698. First edition. Folio (310 x 200 mm). Modern brown quarter calf, red morocco spine label and raised bands, with marbled boards, edges sprinkled red. Comes in a blue, flat-back cloth box. Ownership signature of "Adam Brown, 1797," and shelf mark to title page, several annotations and ink marks to contents, including sig. 302 verso. Contents occasionally spotted with small nick to top edge of S4 and short closed tear to lower edge of 2V2, else a very bright and clean copy housed in a nice custom box.. First edition of this major work of republican theory by English politician and republican theorist Algernon Sidney (1623-1683). Sidney wrote his Discourses Concerning Government between 1681 and 1683, and it originally circulated in manuscript form as a polemical refutation of Sir Robert Filmer's Patriarcha (1680), which defended the divine right of kings under absolute monarchy. Sidney opposed absolute monarchy as a… Read More

London: Printed for J. Dodsley, in Pall-Mall, 1790. First edition. Octavo. Period-style half calf and marbled boards, red morocco spine label. Offsetting to endpapers from leather tips, title page browned and spotting to certain leaves. Todd identifies three editions with a 1790 title page, comprising ten impressions. Todd's setting a of [A]2 with the ornamental flower on p. [iv] pointing to the right and the "M" in the imprint immediately below the first "D" of "Dodsley" and setting x of 2A2 with no press figure on p. 354. SC/2/6.. First edition of Edmund Burke's (1729-1797) enduring polemic against the French Revolution and defense of conservative principles. The publication of Burke's pamphlet in 1790 would prove a watershed moment in the birth and development of modern conservatism, as Reflections has been credited as among the first-and finest-transformative statements of traditionalism into a fully conceived political philosophy. Burke was an Irish statesman who served in the House of Commons… Read More

Francfort, Christian Egenolff, 1537.
Small 4to of (39) ll. and one final blank, A-K4 (last blank) ; brown morocco, covers decorated with cold and gilded fillets, spine ribbed decorated, gilded edges (F.Bedford).
135 x 144 mm.
First edition of this masterpiece by Hans Schäufelein (1480-1538), student and assistant of Albrecht Dürer until about 1505.
Brunet, II, 780 ; Dodgson II, p. 14 ; Muther 913.
This masterpiece illustrates the passion of Christ with 73 full-page engravings by Schäufelein, a student of Albrecht Durer.
" First edition: others appeared in 1542, 1550.
Title in 10 lines, Latin in roman and German in gothic, with woodcut mark of Schäufelin (IS interlaced, on a large shovel) above the lower line. The book consists of 73 cuts, c. 140 x 102 mm, one on each page with the title in Latin above with Scriptural reference and the German equivalent below.
The series of cuts ends K2 vo…
All the cuts are by Schäufelein except the first (Annunciation) which is probably by a different, though… Read More

Augsburg, Christoph Mangius, 1615.
- [Bound with] : Rei Christianae apudiaponios commentaries Ex litteris annuis Societatis Iesu annorum 1609, 1610, 1611, 1612…
Augsburg, Christoph Mangius, 1615.
12mo [155 x 94 mm] of: I/ (4) ll., 294 pp., (1) bl.l., 1 folding map; II/ (6) ll., (2) bl.ll., 298 pp. wrongly numbered 296, (1) l., library stamp on the back of the title.
Stiff vellum binding, remains of ties, flat spine with handwritten title, blue edges. Contemporary binding.
I / Rare second Latin edition of " Two Letters from China from 1610 and 1611 " by the missionary Nicolas Trigault (1557-1628) on his journey to China, an indispensable complement to his "De Christiana expeditione apud Sinus" of which the original edition was released in Augsburg that same year 1615.
Cordier BS 808; Löwendahl 56; Morrison, II, 466; Sommervogel VIII, col. 238.
The original edition had been published in Italian in 1615 and the first Latin in 1615 in Antwerp (with an approval dated Antwerp, May 2, 1615). The latter… Read More

Five rare books and associated ephemera (all published in French) from the private library of Maurice de Gandillac, 1930-1966. Maritain, Jacques: Éléments de Philosophie (I): Introduction Générale a la Philosophie, Paris: Pierre Téqui, Libraire-Éditeur, 1930. Reprint of the original 1920 edition. Original wrappers. Minor smudging and toning to wrappers and slight creasing to corners and faint staining to spine; minor toning to leaves. Portions uncut. Very good. Signed and inscribed by Jacques Maritain to Maurice de Gandillac on half-title page: "To Maurice de Gandillac / With affection / Jacques Maritain." Volume 1. Maritain, Jacques: De la Philosophie Chrétienne, Paris: Desclée de Brouwer, 1933. First edition. Original wrappers. Small red ink spot to foot of front wrapper; minor toning to leaves. Very good. Signed and inscribed by Jacques Maritain to Maurice de Gandillac on the front free endpaper: "To Maurice de Gandillac / Very affectionately / Jacques Maritain." Maritain, Jacques: Science… Read More

Imprimée en la ville de Luce Nouvelle, par Brisaud Chasse-diables [Genève, François Perrin], 1567.
Large 8vo of (4) ll, 190 pp, (1) bl. l., few spotting, pale waterstain in the lower part of the last 7 ll.
Red morocco, triple gilt fillet around the covers, flat spine decorated with gilt fillets and lyres, decorated edges, gilt inner border, gilt edges. Bound by Derome le jeune with his label.
229 x 143 mm.
Very rare first edition of this violent satire against the court of Rome.
The work has long been attributed to Theodore de Bèze; in reality, under the Rabelaisian pun of the pseudonym Frangidelphe Escorche-messes is hidden the identity of Jean-Baptiste Trento, an Italian from Vicenza who converted to the Reformation in 1541 and took refuge in Geneva. He was received as a citizen of the city in 1559.
Copy from the second issue whose title bears the date of 1567 and not the one of 1566.
"Violent satire against the court of Rome. Copies are rare and sought after. The common opinion is that it is… Read More