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Madrid, Ricardo Fé, 1887. 8vo. Contemporary brown half calf with gilt lettering and ornamentation to spine and red paper covered boards. Most leaves evenly browned (due to the quality of the paper) and some brownspotting to last few leaves. Overall a very good copy indeed of this otherwise fragile book. [Socialismo Utopico... :] pp. (1)-91, (1) + frontispiece of Engels; [La Ley de Los Salarios... :] pp. (1)-44 + frontiespiece of Guesde; [El Capital:] pp. (I)-LVI, 263 pp. The exceedingly scarce first Spanish edition of the most important abridged version of Marx's Capital ever to have appeared, published in the same year as what is generally accepted as the first Spanish edition of "Das Kapital" (Zafrilla's abridged version - defectively translated from Roy's French version - which was published in newspaper installments 1886-87).This Spanish translation was made from the French of Gabriel Deville (1854 -1940), the great French socialist theoretician, politician and diplomat, who did more than almost anyone else to raise awareness of Karl Marx's theories of the weaknesses of capitalism - most effectively through the present work, which came to have a profound influence upon the spreading of Marxist thought throughout the Spanish speaking part of the world. "The epitome, here translated, was published in Paris, in 1883, by Gabriel Deville, possibly the most brilliant writer among the French Marxians. It is the most successful attempt yet made to popularize Marx's scientific economics. It is by no means free from difficulties, for the subject is essentially a complex and difficult subject, but there are no difficulties that reasonable attention and patience will not enable the average reader to overcome. There is no attempt at originality. The very words in most cases are Marx's own words, and Capital is followed so closely that the first twenty-five chapters correspond in subject and treatment with the first twenty-five chapters of Capital. Chapter XXVI corresponds in the main with Chapter XXVI of Capital, but also contains portions of chapter XXX. The last three chapters-XXVII, XXVIII, and XXIX-correspond to the last three chapters-XXXI, XXXII, and XXXIII-of Capital." (ROBERT RIVES LA MONTE, Intruductory Note to the 1899 English translation).The Spanish translator of the work is Antonio Atienza, a typographer and translator at the press of Ricardo Fé, who in 1886 volunteered his work at the newly founded "El Socialista", the Spanish flagship publication of Marxist socialism. It was also in 1886 that Atienza translated the present work, with the publication following in 1887. This translation happened almost simultaneously with the "translation" by Zafrilla, which appeared in weekly installments in the rival newspaper "La Républica", and the two first versions of "Das Kapital" to appear in Spanish tell the story of more than just the desire to spread Marx's ideas in Spain. Both versions were part of an ongoing struggle between political parties vying for the loyalty of Spain's workers (see more below). THE WORK IS OF THE UTMOST SCARCITY, WITH MERELY THREE COPIES LISTED ON OCLC (two in Bristish Library and one in Bibliothèque Nationale) and none at auction over the last 40 years at least.Backgrund for the publication:Among the numerous nascent political organizations that sprouted in the last half of 19th century Spain, many of them as a result to the tumultuous years after the so-called "Glorious Revolution" of 1868, was the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE). The party was founded by Pablo Iglesias in 1879, and it was the second socialist party in Europe, preceded only by the Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD). Notably, of the original twenty-five founding members sixteen were typographers. March of 1886 was a turning point for the PSOE, as they began to publish a weekly newspaper, "El Socialista", in order to reach a wider audience throughout Spain and thus advance the Marxist socialist agenda, of which the paper became the flagship. (To this day, it is the official paper of the PSOE, the present ruling party in Spain, although it was suppressed during the years of Franco's dictatorial regime and published sporadically in exile, in France, or clandestinely in Spain. It was again published regularly since 1978. The PSOE gave up Marxism in 1979 in favor of Democratic Socialism.)In 1886 the translator of the present work, Antonio Atienza, was a typographer and translator at the press of Ricardo Fé. At the same time, he volunteered his work at the newly founded El Socialista, as the PSOE funds were quite limited-he wouldn't have a paid position in the paper until 1913. He translated articles by Engels, Guesde, and Buechner, among others."Das Kapital" had been published twenty years earlier. That it took so long to reach Spain in book form reveals, among other things, that up to that moment most of Marx's thoughts had filtered through to the workers' unions and parties by way of the writings of his followers as they were interpreted and explained by the intellectuals in charge of these organizations. It is also evident that the complexity of the book wouldn't be of much use to the average worker, factory and otherwise. Enter Deville's abridged version, which was more accessible in that some of the most basic ideas of Marx were digested and re-explained. The point was not to publish a book that could only be only be understood by economists and philosophers, but one that could be given to the workers. A rival party leftist party, considered by the PSOE as bourgeois, was the Partido Republicano Federal. One of its members, Pablo Correa y Zafrilla, undertook the task of translating the first volume of Das "Kapital". Quite usual for Spain at the time, the translation was published in weekly instalments to subscribers of their newspaper, "La República", starting in 1886 and ending in 1887. The paper then sold the cloth binding to its subscribers and offered to collect the installments to have the book bound for its customers. According to the ad in "La República" (22/1/1886), the translation is purportedly from the German original, but it has been clearly demonstrated that it is a defective translation from the French translation of Roy (Ribas). It seems very plausible that when the PSOE found out that someone else in Spain was beginning to publish a translation of the first volume of "Das Kapital", El Socialista decided to publish Deville's translation. In fact, the publication of El Capital by "La República" was briefly mentioned once in "El Socialista", and not in flattering terms (7/10/1887). That a Marxist newspaper disparaged against the first Spanish publication of "Das Kapital" reveals, among other things, that they were not terribly excited about some other party's publication producing a defective rendering of their guiding principles. On the other hand, that "La República" had decided to publish the book was probably brought about by the foundation of "El Socialista", as they saw that the PSOE now had the means to spread their ideas throughout the country. It is in no small way possible that the haste to publish the book brought about the many defects in the translation from the French of Roy as Correa hurried to finish it.José Mesa y Leompart, a typographer, translator, and Marxist ideologue and activist, had experienced the upheavals of the Commune of Paris during his exile after the 1868 revolution. He developed a friendship with Marx's son in law, Paul Lafargue, and his wife, Laura Marx-who themselves had been in exile in Spain during 1871-72-, as well as with Engels, with whom he shared much correspondence, and many other figures of the Marxist movement. He also met both Marx and Engels during their exile in London. His friendship with Pablo Iglesias was a major driving force behind the formation of the PSOE, and he collaborated with El Socialista both as a writer and as a financial supporter. Mesa writes to Engels in April of 1887 lamenting that some Spanish thinkers were using Marx's theories and the policies of the German Socialist Party to deny the concept of class struggle, despite the fact that "we have […] proven to them that you and Marx have always said the opposite, and having quoted to them the very clear statements of the German Socialist Party; [but] they remain unmovable, and at some point they even wanted to publish the abridged Capital by Deville, without the preface, and with notes interpreting the meaning in their own way-which we have impeded-(the Resumen [abridgement] of Deville will soon be published, faithfully translated into Spanish."Therefore, as early as April of 1887 the present translation was already in progress, and in fact, according to Mesa, soon to be published, so it was apparently very advanced. It is then quite possible that Antonio Atienza was commissioned to translate the Deville's abridgement a few months earlier, and not unlikely as far as 1886, when "La República" was still publishing installments of the Correa translation. The PSOE is obviously trying to obscure and minimize Correa's translation by publishing the Deville book, as the task of translating "Das Kapital" from the original would be lengthy and costly, and it would have come out too late to ascertain their political hold on Marx's ideas. This translation of Deville, then, sees the light is in the very midst of the bickering between leftist parties, and is in fact a product of the confrontations between leftist ideologies. It was finally published about nine months after Mesa's letter to Engels. The first announcement in "El Socialista" appears in their November 11th, 1887 issue. The price is four pesetas, or about the cost of an entire year's subscription to the paper, although subscribers could purchase it at half price. Still, given that many subscribers were workers of scarce means, less than three hundred copies were sent out to the main Spanish cities, and that the total edition was probably about a thousand copies at most.The scarcity of this book can be underlined if one considers the virulent war that was waged against all socialist and Marxist literature during and after the Spanish Civil War by the dictatorial regime of Francisco Franco. Book purges and burnings were considerable throughout Spain since the onset of the war, in 1936. It is not that books were burnt sporadically and occasionally, but rather they were destroyed in a systematic and terrifyingly efficient manner. As early as September of 1936 official orders were given to all civil governors, mayors, school inspectors in the nationalist areas to purge all "harmful" books, such as pornography and books of a communist or Marxist content. Teachers, librarians, and private citizens, often purged their own libraries, public or personal, of such works in order to comply with the official orders. Countless people were summarily executed for owning certain books that revealed their political tendencies. Obviously, owning actual edition of a book by Marx was reason enough to be deemed guilty and likely executed. As the war advanced, many other such official orders were issued, and unfathomable numbers of books were burnt. To this is added that many libraries were burnt down during the bombardments that took place throughout the country, and that all the libraries of the leftist parties were systematically destroyed. The end of the war, in 1939, only made it official throughout the entire country that communist and socialist literature was banned. So even the few copies that might have survived the fires and the purges were surely disposed of by their owners. It is no small wonder that this particular copy did manage to survive.Withbound in the present volume is the first Spanish translation of Engels' "Socialism: Utopian and Scientific" and Jules Guesde's work on the Law of Wages. See:Ribas, Pedro. "La primera traducción castellana de El capital, 1886 - 1887", in Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos, Madrid, junio de 1985, pp. 201-210.Castillo, Santiago. "Marxismo y socialismo en el siglo XIX español", in, Movimiento sociales y estado en la España contemporánea, Manuel Ortiz et al (coord.), Universidad de Castila-La Mancha, 2001Boza Puerta, Mariano, and Sánchez Herrador, Miguel Ángel. "El martirio de los libros: una aproximación a la destrucción bibliográfica durante la Guerra Civil." In Boletín de la Asociación Andaluza de Bibliotecarios. Año nº 22, Nº 86-87, 2007, págs. 79-96Tur, Francesc. https://serhistorico.net/2018/04/04/el-bibliocausto-en-la-espana-de-franco-1936-1939/

Speier, Johann and Conrad Hist, (Colphon states 1455 which refers to when Ferrer was cannonized as a saint), circa 1485, no later than 1492. 4to (210 x 147 mm). In a very nice late 19th-century full sprinkled calf binding executed by Francis Bedford (signed in lower margin of verso of front board). Six raised bands and gilt lettering and ornamentation to spine. Double ruled fillets to recto and verso of borders of boards. Single gilt line decoration to edges of boards. All edges gilt. Old bookseller description and gilt ex-libris (Henry Huth (1815–1878), English banker and prominent bibliophile) pasted on to pasted down front end-paper. A few annotations in pencil to pasted down front end-papers. A few early marginal annotations and underlingnings. Initials in contemporary hand-colouring. 32 lines to a page. Washed. 19 ff. (a8- b-35). Wanting the final blank (c6). This is one of the few books which contains the brothers' joint colophon "ICH". Housed in a cloth clam-shell box. Exceedingly rare, early incunable-edition of Ferrer’s highly popular, influential, and somewhat unsettling work containing his apocalyptic vision and eschatological preaching. Although several incunable-editions exist, they are rarely found in the trade and all are of the utmost scarcity. Of this edition we are only aware of one copy on private hands - namely, the present one, which last appeared for sale in 1985 (Bloomsbury Book Auctions, no. 45). The dating of this particular edition has puzzled bibliographers and still seems to leave many questions open: The colophone states 1455, which has often been referred to as an error in the year of imprint; in fact, it refers to the year that Ferrer was cannonized as a saint. For some reason (unknown to us), the Bloomsbury auction description dated it to 1491-1492. In their authoritative “Die Brüder Johann und Conrad Hist und ihre Drucke”, Engel and Stalla concluded that it must be from 1485, and the Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke (GW) dates it to around 1483. The Vatican dates it to circa 1485. The Editio Princeps was printed by Gerardus de Lisa in Treviso in 1475. A second edition was printed, in Treviso or Vicenza, by Hermann Liechtenstein in 1477, and a third edition was printed in 1479 in either Toulouse or Lyon. The Zeninger-press in Nurnberg then printed a copy in 1480 or 1481. Despite being printed relatively frequently in the last quarter of the 15th century all editions are scarce and rarely find their way to the trade. The two brothers Hist settled in Speyer in January 1483. Only five incunabule editions from their joint production bear a colophon naming them both, i.e. Johann and Conrad (which this present edition does). These are dated between 1483 and 1488. Notably, in all five colophons, the printers' names are abbreviated as "ICH" rather than written out in full. Johann died or left at some point, but the exact date is unclear; Engel and Stalla mention 1489, others have stated 1492. Conrad Hist continued printing independently until 1515 and subsequently worked as a publisher and bookseller. Vincent Ferrer (1350–1419) was a Dominican friar from Valencia, Spain, known for his fiery preaching and missionary work across Europe. He was canonized as a saint in 1455.The present work reflects Ferrer's apocalyptic vision and eschatological preaching. Ferrer believed that the world was nearing its end and that humanity needed urgent repentance to prepare for the Final Judgment. His sermons and writings were deeply influenced by Medieval apocalypticism, writing on subjects like the Antichrist, the Last Judgment and divine retribution. Ferrer’s somewhat distressing writings and the fact that he thought he was divinely appointed to warn the world of its impending end earned him the nickname "Angel of the Apocalypse". The Huth library. A catalogue of the printed books, vol 2, p. 512. Not in BMC; not in Goff. GW 09852. OCLC lists copies in Germany, 1 copy in Scotland, and 1 copy in The Vatican (Inc. IV. 413).See: Engel, Hermann/Stalla, Gerhard (1976), "Die Brüder Johann und Conrad Hist und ihre Drucke“, in: Archiv für Geschichte des Buchwesens 16.

(Paris, 1820). Small 8vo. Contemporary (original?) blank blue paper wrappers. Annulated stamp to title-page, otherwise a nice, clean, and fresh copy. 68 pp. + 5 engraved plates. First edition, in the extremely scarce off-print, of the first announcement of Ampère's seminal discoveries on electromagnetism, which laid the foundation for electrodynamics. Ampère first heard of Ørsted's discovery of electromagnetism on the 4th of September, when Arago announced Ørsted's results to the Paris Academy of Sciences. In Ørsted's experiment, a current-carrying wire is held over and under a compass needle - the result being that the needle is positioned at 45 degrees in respect to the wire. Ampére immediately saw that this result made no physical sense and realized that the true nature of the effect could not be observed until the force of terrestrial magnetism was somehow neutralized; what Ørsted had observed and reported on was the resultant of the force from the wire and that from the earth's magnetic field. Ampère discovered that the compass needle sets at 90 degrees to the current-carrying wire, when the effect of terrestial magnetism is eliminated. He also observed that current-carrying wires which are formed as spirals act as permanent magnets, and this lead him to his theory that electricity in motion produces magnetism and that permanent magnets must contain electrical currents. And thus Ampère laid the foundation of the new field of electrodynamics."Ampère, professor of mathematics at the Polytechnique, heard of Oersted's discovery and immediately set up a series of experiments to determine the exact relationships of current-flow and magnetism. In a week Ampère presented the first of a series of papers establishing the laws of forces acting between conductors carrying current." (Dibner). Ampère's seminal results were announced in a series of memoires read before the Paris Academy of Sciences in September and October 1820. These memoires were first published in the September and October issues of Arago's "Annales de Chimie et de Physique", and in November Ampère had the scarce seperate printing of his findings published under the title "Mémoires sur I'action mutuelle de deux courans électriques, sur celle qui existe entre un courant électrique et un aimant ou le globe terrestre, et celle de deux aimans I'un sur I'autre". It is this publication that is considered "his first great memoir on electrodynamics" (DSB).Sparrow: 8; Dibner: 62; Honeyman: 83; Barchas 51 (only the periodical-issue); Wheeler 762 (only the periodical-issue).

Parisiis, apud Christinum Wechelum, MD.XXXII [1532]. Folio (331x204 mm). Bound in contemporary half vellum with title in contemporary hand to spine. Spine made of vellum leaf from Antiphonary Lower part of spine with wormhole. Title-page with circular repair (measuring 32x32 mm), not affecting text. Previous owner's ?name to title-page and two leaves with a few marginal annotation in the same hand. The following pages with marginal wormtract, far from affecting text: pp. 111-208 and 229-252. Vague dampstain affecting lower part of inner margin of Pp. 185-285, otherwise internally fine. (12), 383, (1) pp. The Rare first edition of Valturio's landmark work to be printed printed in France. The work constitutes the very first book "printed with illustrations of a technical or scientific character" (PMM). The magnificent woodcuts are 'reversed free copies' (Mortimer) of the blocks used to illustrate the second edition (Verona, 1483) which were in turn copied from the first edition (Verona: Johannes, 1472). Cockle notes that these illustrations were 'said to be from da Vinci's drawings'. (Cockle p. 134). The De Re Militari is essentially a compendium of the latest techniques and devices for scaling walls, catapulting missiles, ramming fortifications, and torturing enemies and the work marks the transition between Medieval and Renaissance warfare with the application of cannons and gunpowder. Soon after it's first appearance in 1472 The work became a primary handbook for Renaissance princes and military leaders: Leonardo da Vinci made use of it while acting as chief engineer to Cesare Borgia and even before its first printing the treatise was highly regarded and circulated in manuscript.The work kept being reprinted several times and the dates suggests it continued to be of more than antiquarian value: The 1484 edition appeared shortly after the accension of the militant Charles VIII and the present edition came on the heels of Francis I's important reorganization of the French army. "The historical importance of the De Re Militari lies in the fact that it is the first book printed with illustrations of a technical or scientific character depicting the progressive engineering ideas of the author's own time. The woodcuts illustrate the equipment necessary for the military and naval engineer; they include revolving gun turrets, platforms and ladders for sieges, paddle-wheels, a diver's suit, a lifebelt, something resembling a tank, pontoon and other bridges, a completely closed boat that could be half submerged, etc. [...]The Verona Valturius and its reprints were the handbooks of the military leaders of the Renaissance, and Leonardo da Vinci, when acting as chief engineer to Cesare Borgia, possessed a copy and borrowed some of its designs."-Printing & the Mind of Man 10-(1st ed. of 1472)."The first printed edition of Valturio's work (1472) was a masterpiece of typography and woodcut. The woodcuts (or at least the drawings) were formerly attributed to Matteo de' Pasti; but they may have been done, as E. Rodakiewicz has proposed, by Fra Giovanni Giocondo Veronese. Military leaders of the period held the book in high esteem, and Leonardo da Vinci copied passages of the text and commented on them. Some of the manuscripts, such as those at Dresden and Munich, which contain very fine drawings, may have been produced after the first printed edition and in fact were based upon it." (DSB)Adams V-224Mortimer Harvard French 535Cockle 501Honeyman 3024.Stillwell p. 289 (No. 897).(For the the first edition see (1472:); PMM no. 10; Dibdin no. 172)

Berlin, Chez l'auteur, 1796. 8vo. 6 later half morocco with five raised bands and gilt titles on backs. XXXII,1291 pp. with 216 beautifully hand-coloured plates. 4 vols. text and 2 vols. plates. 6 title-pages and 6 half-titles. All vols. uncut, last three text vols. unopend. Text and plates are completely clean throughout. The rare first octavo edition (being the second edition, in 8vo) of Bloch's Ichthyologie - arguably the most magnificent work on fish ever. This particular edition is not in Nissen, Wood nor BMC and is very uncommon.The second edition, printed 1793-95, was published in 6 folio volumes and contained 216 plates, i.e., half the number of plates as in the first edition (Nissen 416). Another, different octavo-edition was published in Paris in 1796, in 5 volumes and with only 108 plates. The present edition constitutes the 8vo-version of the second edition and the first 8vo edition in general.

(Cologne, Ulrich Zell, ca. 1470). Small 4to. Beautifully bound in a later (ca. 1900) full calf binding in Renaissance style with three raised bands and blindstamped ornamentation to spine. Boards with three wide ornamental blindstamped borders inside each other. A damp stain to inner margin and a bit of light brownspotting. Early marginal annotations (some of them slightly shaved) and underlinings. 6 ff. + first and last blank. 27 lines to a page. A large, four-line opening initial in red, a two-line initial in red, paragraph marks as well as capital strokes in red throughout, and red underlinings in beginning and end. A lovely copy. With the gilt red leather ex libris of John Pierpont Morgan to inside of front board. Magnificent, early incunable edition, being the exceedingly scarce second edition (as a Zell-edition dated between 1467 and 1470 is considered the first - these two first editions are of equal scarcity) of this highly important tract on the moral implications of speaking ill of others in their absence, by one of the pioneers of natural right theory, Jean de Gerson, printed by the eminent first printer of Cologne, Ulrich Zell. The work, though having been overlooked for centuries, is of the utmost importance to the shaping of Western thought, both legal, religious, and moral, and it was extremely influential in its time. It appeared as many as four times around 1470 (the two first editions printed by Zell, who was the main printer of all of Gerson's works, followed by an edition by Fust and Schöffer shortly after and another one by Therhoernen) with editions following in both the 1480'ies and 90'ies. The two Zell-editions, which constitute the first appearances of the work, are distinguishable by the printing error in the first line of A1r, which says "Intipit" (the present copy - Hain 7683) instead of "Incipit" (Hain 7682). The number of early editions of Gerson's work bears witness to his tremendous popularity as a moral and spiritual authority in 15th-century Europe. In spite of being “[o]ne of the smallest and rarest of the many tracts by the Chancellor of Paris Jean Charlier de Gerson (1363-1429), which were printed by the earliest printer of Germany" (Rhodes), the work nonetheless exercised great impact. The theme of the treatise is the morality of speaking ill of others behind their backs, which has implications for, not only morality philosophically speaking, but also legally, theologically, and religiously, tying together the most important themes of Gerson’s thought. Curiosity and vanity, which are at the heart of rumor-making and speaking ill of others behind their backs, are two main intellectual vices that must be warned about in all contexts. “The reflection on vices and sins, both from the moral and the intellectual point of view, is a “fil rouge” in Jean Gerson’s production. As a theologian constantly concerned with shaping a correct theology and driven by the necessity to pursue the safety and unity of the doctrine, the Parisian Chancellor often warns his students and colleagues about the dangers connected with this misuse of rationality. (Luciano Micali: The Consent of the Will…, p. 1). “Jean Gerson (b. 1363–d. 1429; also Jean de Gerson, or, originally, Jean Charlier) was the most popular and influential theologian of his generation, the most important architect of the conciliar solution to the Great Schism (1378–1415), and the leading figure at the Council of Constance (1414–1418). He came from a family of modest means in the Champagne region of France. As a young student at the College of Navarre in Paris, he came in contact with humanist currents from Italy (he probably read Petrarch at this time), which left some traces in his writings. He first gained fame as a popular preacher in Paris in the early 1390s and then followed his master Pierre d’Ailly as the chancellor of the University of Paris in 1395. He gained international renown as a result of his leading role at the Council of Constance, which put an end to the Great Schism. ... Gerson’s wide-ranging interests extended well beyond the traditional limits of university masters, and his writings serve as a window into 15th-century life and thought. His complete works were first printed in 1483 and were frequently reprinted through the first quarter of the 16th century. Later humanists and university theologians alike claimed him as one of their intellectual fathers." (Oxford Bibliographies in Medieval Studies: Daniel Hobbins: “Jean Gerson”). In spite of his enormous influence upon his contemporaries and near contemporaries of the following century, recent centuries have witnessed little insight into his vast importance. This, however, seems to be changing, as many scholars are now gaining increasing insight into the extension of his influence. “Researchers are familiar with seeing and examining the influence of Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and other significant figures in Western intellectual history. The reception of Jean Gerson (1363-1429) — the late medieval French Church reformer, ecclesiastical leader, theologian, poet, educator and chancellor of the University of Paris — is, however, an understudied field. Gerson’s legacy had nevertheless an impact on late medieval and early modern movements and thinkers of great significance, paving the way for many developments, which still shape our existence today. He became a source of inspiration for all those involved in establishing new religious and national identities, and his name appears in both Protestant (of all branches) as well as in Catholic sources. Aside from the expected influence in theology and Church history, his ideas transformed law, jurisprudence, art, music, pedagogy, literature and even medicine. The topography of his legacy is just as broad and varied, spanning from Portugal to Scandinavia, and from Japan to Mexico. From a deeper perspective, Gerson is extremely important for understanding the religious evolution of Western civilization. Jean Gerson’s legacy provides a significant theological context where contemporary ideas such as, for example, the concept of individual right or need of palliative care, find their roots. Today, when the question of religion has retaken the central stage of our existence, an understanding of our theological background is no longer the fief of specialized researchers, but a social necessity.” (Introduction to: The Reception of Jean Gerson in Late Medieval and Early Modern Theology, Spirituality and Law. Roundtable Discussion at KU Leuven, 2018) Although commonly accepted as a seminal figure important in legal theory, even his role a a pioneer of natural right theory has been overlooked, as has his vast influence on thinkers like Thomas Moore. A 2018-conference at KU Leuven has contributed to the renewed understanding of his importance. As Yelena Mazour-Matuzevich (University of Alaska Fairbanks / Senior Fellow KU Leuven) concluded: “Before looking closely at Thomas More’s connection to the late medieval French theologian Jean Gerson (1363-1429), I could not imagine the breadth and depth of More’s dependency on his legacy as a source of scriptural narrative, moral theology or legal theory. More’s extensive knowledge of Gerson’s works is evident from the Englishman’s writings, and his admiration, already manifest in his early years, only increased as he aged, climaxing during his imprisonment in the Tower.” (The Very Special Case: Gerson & Thomas More). It was only with Richard Tuck and his "Natural Rights Tradition" from 1979 that Gerson was first really credited with his pioneering work in this field. Tuck argues that Jean Gerson was the first to describe the notion of ius as “a dispositional faculty or power, appropriated to so meone and in accordance with a right was understood in terms of an ability” and places him at the centre in the rights tradition. Thus, the guiding light of the Concillar Movement and one of the most prominent theologians at the Council of Constance was also one of the first thinkers to develop what would later come to be called natural rights theory, and he was even one of the first individuals to defend Joan of Arc and proclaim her supernatural vocation as authentic. The celebrated devotional work traditionally ascribed to Thomas à Kempis, "The Imitation of Crist" has been considered by some scholars, to be the work of Gerson, although no conclusive evidence has yet been found. "Gerson was a prolific writer, and a powerful intellectual force in a calamitous period in France’s history. A champion of his university, he strongly advocated the role of theologians in the debates which erupted when the Great Schism divided the catholic church between 1378 and 1417, as first two, and then three, claimants contended for the papacy. As a cleric, he had a strong sense of pastoral responsibility, often expressed in his more personal writings. He witnessed and bewailed France’s descent into political chaos, when the madness of King Charles VI allowed rival princes to jostle, and eventually murder, to gain their ends. In 1413 the civic and political disturbances in Paris almost cost him his life. That civic disorder, civil war, and then the Lancastrian takeover with King Henry VI of England as questionable heir to Charles VI, doubtless explains why Gerson, ever the Valois loyalist, spent his final years in a kind of exile in Lyons. Many of Gerson’s major writings deal with the Schism, and the debates over the Church’s structure which it provoked. These pushed him to argue for reform, a programme which challenged papalism by urging the authority of a general council as representative of the Church as a whole. Some of his most important work addresses such matters, and he was occasionally a key player in events, notably at Constance in March–April 1415. ” (Swanson: Review of Patrick McGuire's Jean Gerson and the Last Medieval Reformation). Hain: 7683; BMC: I:184; Goff: 219.

Paris, J. du Puys, 1580. 4to. Contemporary full vellum wih contemporary handwritten title to spine. Binding somewhat warped, but unrestored and tight. A (mostly very faint) damp stain to upper blak margin of some leaves (not affecting text), but otherwise internally very nice clean and fresh. Old owner's name to title-page (Dufault) and old acquisition note to front free end-paper. Woodcut title-vignette, woodcut headpieces, woodcut end-vignette, and a few woodcut initials. A large copy with good margins. (14), 252 (recte: 256) ff. Scarce first edition of Bodin's seminal "Demon-Mania", the most important book on witchcraft of the era. The work profoundly influenced the position on witchcraft of the following half century and directly influenced the course of witch trials of this period. The work is furthermore of fundamental importance to the understanding of Bodin's tripartite world picture and constitutes an invaluable supplement to his "Six livres de la république"."Jean Bodin's "On the Demon-Mania of Witches" (De la démonomanie des sorciers) appeared in 1580 and rapidly became a major publishing success. It underwent at least twenty-three editions and was translated from its original French into German, Italian and Latin. It was surely the most published work of the era on the subject of demons and witches. Because of its wide distribution, it has been considered by generations of historians to have been an extremely influential book, responsible in itself for large-scale prosecutions of witches in the four or five decades following its appearance." (Pearl, p. 9).The present first edition constitutes not only the original version of the work, but also the model for all French editions that followed (as well as the later translations) - as many as 11 between 1581 and 1616. Bodin edited an edition in 1587, which contained some additions; that edition is considered very flawed, however, and no subsequent editions were based upon it. Jean Bodin (1529/30 - 1596), "one of the towering figures in the history of French thought" (Scott), was a lawyer, economist, natural philosopher, historian, and one of the major political theorists of the sixteenth century. His main work, the "Six livres de la république" is one of the most important works of modern political thought. Here Bodin gave the first systematic statement of sovereignty and coined the term "political science". With his theory of the State and statement of Sovereignty, he fundamentally changed the history of political thought in the West. The "Six livres de la république" is Bodin's most famous and frequently read work. Due to the seemingly "supernatural" contents of the "Démonomanie", scholars have had difficulties recognizing the Bodin of the "Six livres" in this work, which, within its domain, was just as influential. There has been, however, increasing recognition of the political contents of the "Démonomanie", and a tendency towards reconciliation of the great works by this towering figure of early modern French thought. First of all, the work is written with the same impressive thoroughness and style as Bodin's other works. Second, although based upon a concrete sorcery case, the "Démonomanie" is of the utmost importance to the understanding of Bodin's tripartite world picture and his attempts at maintaining a clear line of separation between the world of nature and the supernatural. His monumental conception of "Theatrum Naturae" is just as dominant as a thematical background in his "Démonomanie" as it is in his "Six livres" and there ought to be no doubt about the fact that the basic features of his system of thought are dominant in the present work, which due to its concrete matter of investigation is all the more interesting. In fact, the "Démonomanie" is now considered an invaluable source for the general thought of the great political thinker. With its two-fold turn of focus on social problems and questions of natural-philosophical and theological character, the "Démonomanie", in accordance with Bodin's scientific plan of life, marks the transition from "human sciences" to "the science of natural and divine things". "Contrary to the judgment of the Enlightenment thinkers, this midway-position does not reduce its value in the Bodin corpus; on the contrary: Precisely this work is suitable for clarifying and illustrating the unity of his works." (Own translation from the German. Lange, p. 162). Concerning himself with witchcraft and demonology, it is in this work that we find an emphasized statement of Bodin's thoughts on women, on punishing and sentencing, and on the general threats of state and society. Having experienced severe criticism of his earlier works, Bodin's critics became more serious and dangerous with regard to his "Démonimanie". In his letter of dedication (December 20, 1579) to Christophle de Thou, the first president of the Parlement of Paris, Bodin explained his motives for writing the work. "First, he hoped to denounce the mania, the spiritual errors, and distraction, as well as the "fury" that sorcerers possess as they "chase after the devil." He wrote this treaty with two purposes in mind: on the one hand, "to use it as a warning to all who will see him [the devil]," and on the other hand, "to alert readers that there is no crime that could be more atrocious or deserve more serious punishment." Bodin wished to speak out against those who "try by all means to rescue the sorcerers through printed books." He reminded all that "Satan has men in his grasp who write, publish, and speak claiming that nothing that is said about sorcerers is true." It was essential to provide the tools to magistrates and judges, who were confronted by the accused sorcerers, in order to face this formidable problem. The work was bold and perilous for its author. Many wondered if Bodin, so curious about this topic, such an expert, so convinced of the devil's existence, may not himself have been involved with witchcraft. These suspicions alarmed the authorities, and on June 3, 1587, the general prosecutor to the Parlement of Paris ordered the general lieutenant of the baillage of Laon to proceed with a search of Bodin's home, on suspicion of witchcraft. This inspection brought no results due to the intervention of eight prominent citizens and two priests who registered their support of Bodin." (SEP)."The conclusions of the proceedings against a witch, to which I was summoned on the last day of April, 1578, gave me occasion to take up my pen in order to throw some light on the subject of witches, which seems marvelously strange to everyone and unbelievable to many... And because there were some who found the case strange and almost unbelievable, I decided to write this treatise which I have entitled "The Demon-Mania of Witches", on account of the madness which makes them chase after devils: to serve as a warning to all those who read it, in order to make it clearly known that there are no crimes which are nearly as vile as this one, or which deserve more serious penealties. Also partly to respond to those who in printed books try to save witches by every means, so that it seems Satan has inspired them and drawn them to his line in order to publish these fine books." (Bodin's Preface).A feature which clearly distinguishes Bodin's theories on witchcraft from late medieval and early Renaissance demonology is his struggle against skepticism, and the gender strategies that he deploys in the present work to thwart Skeptics, constitute a central feature of his modern demonology - a demonology that came to be dominating for more than half a century. The "Démonomanie" is a work designed to update a vast corpus concerned with the identification and punishment of witches. It provides us quite clearly with Bodin's thoughts on divinity, punishment, practice of law, and not least on women - women in general and women in society. "[W]omen generally serve as means to an end in Bodin's thought. The wife's natural inferiority to the husband provides an analogy for a nonreciprocal relation of command and obedience that he establishes between the sovereign and his subjects in "De la république". In "De la démonomanie", Bodin's portrayal of women as the possessors of unsavory secrets and his characterization of the confessions of witches as fragments of a grandly devilish design create the need for hermeneutical expertise - expertise that he claimed to have. In using women to "think with", the author of "De la démonomanie" had much in common with his opponent, the Lutharen physician Johann Weyer, who protested against the witch trials in "De praestigiis daemonum" (1563)." (Wilkin p. 53).An important part of Bodin's defence of the existence of witchcraft lies in the latter part of the present work, namely the pages 218-252, which constitute the famous refutation of the opinions of Johann Weyer ("Refutation des opinions de Jean Wier"). In his "De praestigiis daemonum" from 1563, Weyer had argued that that which we call witchcraft are actually manifestations caused by mental illness of the women in question. It is interesting to see how much Bodin actually drew on Weyer, while at the same time attacking him on both scholarly and legal grounds. As the thorough and classically bred scholar that he was, he cited both classical, Arab, and Christian authorities on witchcraft against Weyer. He arrays the authority of all philosophers, prophets, theologians, lawgivers, jurists, rulers, etc. Ultimately, Bodin here became the first to challenge Weyer's denial of the right to judge and punish the mentally ill, making the work of foundational importance to the following development of legal theory specifically targeted on the punishment of insane men and women. "As a major Renaissance scholar, Bodin based his work on an extensive and varied group of sources. He depended heavily on the Old Testament, classical and patristic authorities and a large number of medieval scholastic works. He was immersed in the late medieval legal and canon law traditions. He also cited a large number of recent and contemporary texts like the "Malleus meleficarum", as well as accounts told by friends and acquaintances. Interestingly, while Bodin condemned the work of Johann Weyer, he mined this book for anecdotes and accounts when they could be useful." (Pearl).The refutation of Weyer shows Bodin as a formidable controversialist. The reason why the "Démonomanie" is published two years after the trial of Jeanne Harvillier, which is constitutes the concrete basis of the work, is that Bodin needed time to carefully prepare the most effective resonse to Weyer's works and attach it to his own. Bodin seeks total demolishment of his opponent - and, as time will tell, he succeeds. Despite some modern disciples, Weyer's position was largely traditional. His aim is not to deny the existence of Satan, nor of satanic practitioners, but rather to contend that those suspected of witchcraft are delusional and victims of mental illness. "Weyer's characterization of women replicated the views of the "Malleus Maleficarum" (1487), or "witches hammer", one of the first and certainly the most influential manual for identifying and prosecuting witches... Weyer draws from the same sources as Kramer to argue that women cannot be held accountable for the crimes for which they stand accused and to which they often confess... Vying with the author of the "Malleus", weyer inscribes in etymology the correspondence between the soft female body and her persuasive mind... Weyer's portrayal of women diverges from that of Kramer only in his assessment of the witch's responsibility." (Wilkin, pp. 13-14)."The essentially melancholic imagination of women, he argues, makes them incapable of the sense perception to which he assigned pride of place in the search for truth. The madness with which Weyer diagnosed witches thus masked the contradiction that vitiated his plea. Identifying the susceptibility to demonic illusion as a feminine trait was to compartmentalize it, to limit implicitly the damage that the Devil could inflict elsewhere - for instance, on the perception of learned physicians. Those who refuted "De praestigiis daemonum" rejected the hermeneutical advantage that Weyer claimed for himself. To the gender strategy by which he claimed his advantage, however, they did not object. Weyer's vociferous adversary, Jean Bodin, decried the physician's medical diagnosis of witches; nevertheless, he called upon woman to embody his opposing hermeneutics. The phenomenon that Clark has felicitously termed "thinking with demons" was thus, I argue, inseparable from another thought process: "Thinking with women"." (Wilkin, pp. 9-10).The "Démonomanie" also constitutes a seminal exercise in jurisprudence, which came to set the standard for following decades. Bodin's aim was not only to make sure that witches were judged and punished, he also aimed at fair trial rules according to principles of law developed over centuries in the secular and ecclesiastical courts. Also in this way, the work differs profoundly from other works on demonology and witchcraft and shows us the author as a profound political and legal thinker, whose aim was to alter society for the better. Because this interesting work places itself amidst the divine and the earthly, between the supernatural and the natural, we find in it a wealth of themes that go beyond the actual witch trial with which Bodin begins his work. It is also for these reasons that the work provides us with an even more thorough knowledge of the foundational thoughts of the great legal and political thinker that is its author. See: Rebecca May Wilkin: Women, Imagination and the Search for Truth in Early Modern France, 2008.Jean Bodin: On the Demon-Mania of Witches. Translated by Randy A. Scott with an Introduction by Jonathan L. Pearl, 1995. Ursula Lange: Untersuchungen zu Bodins Demonomanie, 1970.

(Stockholm, publication date is unclear, but commission to the work was granted in 1661. ca. 1661 - 1715) Folio (370 x 260). 3 parts bound entirely uncut in 2 nice uniform red half calf bindings from ca. 1800 with gilt lettering and ornamentation to spines. Wear to edges of boards and small repair to lower compartment on vol II/III. 5 plates with marginal repairs and 1 plate with small closed hole (Not renewed margins as is often an indication of a later issue). Very light occasional marginal browning. An overall very nice uncut set in vertical folios as intended by Dahlberg.13, (1) pp. of Index. 356 etched and engraved plates - the list of plates at the beginning calls for 352, but numbers "46" in vol. II and "38" in vol. III each consist of two separate plates plus 1 extra plate (consisting of two plates) in the end of vol. III showing Templum Ulricæ, the Swedish church in London. Thus complete (+1 extra). Plates by various engravers including J. van den Aveele, Willem Swidde, Jean Marot, Jean Le Pautre, A. Perelle, J. J. von Sandrart, and E. Reitz, most after Count Dahlberg's drawings. Magnificent copy, entirely uncut with the additional uncalled for plate, of the largest and perhaps most sumptuous Scandinavian topographical work. The scope and extravagant character of the work was reflected in it’s printing history; In 1661, Dahlberg obtained a commission from the Swedish government to compile a pictorial archive of the country's architectural treasures. No less than 18 engravers were hired to transfer Dahlberg’s drawings to copperplates (a few of the drawings were by David Klöcker-Ehrenstrahl and Elias Brenner). After decades of transferring drawings to copperplates, 21 years were spent on completing the printing of the plates - the sheets continued to be published throughout the 18th and into the 19th century. Per Lagerlöf wrote a Latin text, but it was only partially printed and never published. ‘Suecia antiqua’ was an ambitious effort to document Sweden. The kingdom was then at the height of an aggressive expansion and very much aware that it had become a major power, primarily through its success in the Thirty Years War (1618-48) and campaigns against Denmark and Poland in the 1650s. In the course of this transformation, it took substantial new territories and sponsored many new and impressive architectural projects both at the state and the individual level, which were here presented to an international audience. Dahlberg's direct source of inspiration was the topographical publications issued by the Swiss publisher Matthäus Merian whom he had become acquainted with during his military service and studies in Germany: ”I want to produce a work on Sweden like that with which Merian honored Germany. Foreiners should see how much of greatness and beauty is to be found in our fatherland”. (Jonsson, Stormaktstid, 1992). “The compilation of architectural views emerged as a genre in the mid-sixteenth century and grew in popularity over the following two hundred years. They range widely in scope, ambition and intended purpose, with some constituting a kind of architectural monograph and others taking a regional or global focus as a form of topographical literature. Many are documentary; others contain imaginary or ideal buildings. Some emphasize text; others contain only a few captions. However, all have in common an attractive presentation that is not particularly technical, and would appeal to anyone with even a passing interest in architecture. It may be this easy accessibility that has often made them seem like ornaments for aristocratic libraries and largely removed from the more intellectually engaged worlds of the study and the architectural studio. With some exceptions, such as the rich works of Giovanni Battista Piranesi, they have typically been seen as early coffee table books - of limited use at the time, and important to the history of art and architecture primarily” (Kristoffer Neville, Suecia antiqua et hodierna: An Architectural Viewbook in the Eighteenth Century). Brunet V:578. Lindberg: Swedish Books 1280–1967 as no. 37.Collijn 4, 198.

(København, 1888). Pænt senere (ca. 1920) halvlæderbind med forgyldt titeletiket på forperm (Anker Kyster). Læder slidt ved kanter og øvre kapitæl. Indvendig frisk. Med Max Lesters ex libris på indersiden af forpermen og Indklæbet 10 liner langt håndskrevet kort fra Hamsun til Max Lester på verso af forreste friblad, dateret "Larvik, 12/6. 18." Nice later (ca. 1920) half calf with gilt title-label to front board (Anker Kyster). Leather worn at edges and upper capital. Internally fresh. With Max Lester's ex libris to inside of front board and verso of front free end-paper with a visiting card from Knut Hamsun, with a 10 lines long handwritten note for Max Lester, dated "Larvik, 12/6. 18.". Et spektakulært eksemplar af originaltrykket af den først publicerede del af en af den moderne litteraturs hovedværker, Hamsuns "Sult", hvori trykkes for første gang de berømte linier "Det var i den Tid, da jeg gik omkring og sulted i Kristiania”, indledningen til den roman, der gjorde Hamsun berømt og til det værk, der indvarslede en ny litterær epoke i Europa. Publikationen af Sult-fragmentet indvarsler ikke alene et vendepunkt i Hamsuns liv og karriere, det indvarsler også et vendepunkt i europæisk litteratur. Dette banebrydende uddrag af tidsskriftet ”Ny Jord”, fra andet bind, 1888, har tilhørt Max Lester (1866-1956), som på verso af fribladet har indklæbet et håndskrevet kort fra Hamsun, som han har modtaget sammen med (formentlig i retur) denne første trykte del af ”Sult”. På kortet har Hamsun i mest vidunderlig, karakteristisk stil skrevet ”Hr. Max Lester,/ dette maa være noget som for 30/ Aar siden stod i Tidsskriftet ”Ny Jord” - / Redaktør Carl Behrens vil kunne si Dem/ Aargang og Nummer./ Forøvrig maa De være Samler for at/ kunne gjemme paa slikt noget, jeg ville brænde/ det levende op./ Med Tak for Deres venlige Hilsen/ Deres ærbødige/ Knut Hamsun/ Larvik, 12/6. 18.” "Sult" kom først i bogform to år senere, i 1890, og det er med publikationen af denne del i Ny Jord, at Hamsuns ry som en forfatter i verdensklasse bliver slået fast og at hans dage som sultende endegyldigt ophører. "Knut Hamsuns debutroman fra 1890 er en af de bøger, der har sat skel. Den har virket med til at forme et nyt menneskesyn og en ny skrivemåde. Hamsun hentede stoffet fra sine egne trængselsår, da han uden slægt og venner gik arbejdsløs i Kristiania og kæmpede mod skuffelser, nederlag og sult." (Johannes V. Jensen). Som 27-årig i 1886 blev Hamsun for anden gang reddet fra en sultende tilværelse og sendt til Amerika, denne gang til Chicago, hvor han bl.a. arbejdede som sporvognskonduktør. Da han blev fyret fra dette job og vennerne havde skillinget sammen til en billet hjem, tog Hamsun i forsommeren 1888 tilbage mod Norden, -men han stod ikke af i Kristiania, han tog skibet videre til København. Da han stod og så skibet sejle fra Kristiania, tænkte han på sine nederlag i denne by, og en af den nyere litteraturs vigtigste sætninger indfandt sig i hans hoved: "Det var i den tid, da jeg gik rundt og sultede i Kristiania", -kimen til et af det 20. århundredes litterære hovedværker var lagt, og Hamsun satte sig med det samme på den nærmeste skibskiste og begyndte at skrive. Påvirket af Nietzsche og Dostojevski sad Hamsun i sit loftsværelse på Nørrebro og arbejdede døgnet rundt på sit første mesterværk. Efteråret 1888 stod den første del af monumentalromanen "Sult" færdig, men da Hamsun ikke turde risikere en afvisning fra Danmarks førende kulturperson, Georg Brandes, opsøgte han dennes bror, Edvard, som var chefredaktør på "Politiken". Edvard Brandes fik således æren af at være den første, der anerkendte Hamsuns talent. Til den stærkt forhutlede forfatter sagde han som den første: "Der venter Dem en meget stor Fremtid!" og om det manuskript, han præsenterede ham for: "det var ikke bare talentfuldt som så meget andet, det var mere, noget, der rystede mig." Edvard Brandes var ikke i tvivl om, at dette manuskript skulle trykkes, men da det var for langt til at stå i "Politiken", blev det trykt i tidsskriftet "Ny Jord", og med ét var en ny litterær gigant skabt. ”Tidsskriftredaktør Behrens havde lovet at udstyre fragmentet med følgende underskrift: ”Af en ukendt forfatter”. Samme dag i første halvdel af november 1888 som tidsskriftet nåede frem til sine nogle hundrede abonnenter, holdt det dansk-norske forfatterpar Amalie og Erik Skram i Kroghs gade I i København et selskab. Til stede var blandt andre forfatteren Herman Bang og hans norske kollega Gunnar Heiberg. Efter at have spist blev man enig om at man trængte til åndelig føde, altså højtlæsning. En af de tilstedeværende havde lovet at læse et stykke i Ny Jord som havde gjort et stærkt indtryk på ham. Eftersom handlingen foregik i Oslo, og værtinden og andre nordmænd var til stede, måtte det være en rigtig anledning til at læse ”Sult” højt. Forfatteren og teatermanden Gunnar Heiberg rømmede sig og begyndte. Efter godt en time var han færdig. Ingen af dem var i tvivl: Norden havde fået en ny digter. Derfor dannede der sig spontant kø foran Amalie Skrams skrivebord i samme rum. Det var skrivende mennesker, de blev nødt til straks at sætte ord på hvilken virkning de ord de netop havde hørt, havde haft på dem. Forfatteren skulle have det at vide med det samme. Men hvem havde skrevet stykket?... Mindre end en uge efter udgivelsen måtte Carl Behrens bestille et nyt oplag. Alle 1000 eksemplarer var solgt! I Nordens kulturcentrum ville enhver der foregav at være kulturelt opdateret, nu læse ”Sult” – stykket i Ny Jord. Det var mange år siden noget tilsvarende var sket. Både stilen, temaet og det man opfattede som forfatterens hensynsløse selvudlevering, fascinerede og chokerede. Hysteriet forplantede sig til Norge… ” (Kolloen, Hamsun, pp. 64-66). Er det virkelig muligt, Hamsun har glemt, hvad der må betegnes som det største vendepunkt i hans liv, publikationen af Sult-fragmentet, som Kolloen kalder ”Triumfens øjeblik”? Eller er det rent koketteri fra den da (1918) anerkendte litterære gigant, som netop havde udgivet sin 26. bog samme år, Markens Grøde, og var fejret i hele Europa som et af de største litterære genier? Det er svært at forestille sig andet end, at udgivelsen af Sult-fragmentet har stået prentet lysende klart ind i hovedet på den 59-årige Hamsun. Det er aldeles unikt at finde denne skelsættende publikation i et eksemplar, der har association til Hamsun, og hvor han selv kommenterer sit banebrydende litterære gennembrud. Os bekendt har der aldrig været lignende til salg. ___________________________________________ A spectacular copy of the first printing of the the first published part of one of the main works of modern literature, Hamsuns’ groundbreaking novel ”Hunger”. It is here that the famous lines “It was in those days when I wandered about hungry in Kristiania, that strange city which no one leaves before it has set his mark upon him…” appear for the first time, the opening lines to the novel that made Hamsun famous and invoked a new literary era in Europe. The publication of the “Hunger”-fragment not only heralds a turning point in the life and career of Hamsun, it also heralds a turning point in European literature. The groundbreaking extract of the periodical “Ny Jord” (which one of Hamsun’s later famous novels was interestingly to be named), from vol. 2, 1888, has belonged to Max Lester (1866-1956), who has inserted a visiting card from Hamsun to the verso of the front free end-paper. Max Lester had received this card from Hamsun, together with this first printing of the first part of Hunger (presumably sending it in return to Max Lester). The card is inscribed in wonderfully characteristic Hamsun-style: ”Hr. Max Lester,/ dette maa være noget som for 30/ Aar siden stod i Tidsskriftet ”Ny Jord” - / Redaktør Carl Behrens vil kunne si Dem/ Aargang og Nummer./ Forøvrig maa De være Samler for at/ kunne gjemme paa slikt noget, jeg ville brænde/ det levende op./ Med Tak for Deres venlige Hilsen/ Deres ærbødige/ Knut Hamsun/ Larvik, 12/6. 18.” (i.e. Dear Max Lester,/ this must be something that 30/ years ago was printed in the periodical “Ny Jord” - / Editor Carl Behrens will be able to tell you/ the year and the number./ You must be a collector, by the way, in order to/ be able to keep something like this, I would burn it/ up alive./ With thanks for your kind regard/ your faithfully/ Knut Hamsun/ Larvik, 12/6. 18.). “Hunger” only appeared in its entirety two years later, in 1890, and it is with the publication of the present part that Hamsun’s reputation as a premier league author is established and that his days as a starving, striving author finally end. “One of the most important and controversial writers of the 20th century, Knut Hamsun made literary history with the publication in 1890 of this powerful, autobiographical novel recounting the abject poverty, hunger and despair of a young writer struggling to achieve self-discovery and its ultimate artistic expression. The book brilliantly probes the psychodynamics of alienation, obsession, and self-destruction, painting an unforgettable portrait of a man driven by forces beyond his control to the edge of the abyss. Hamsun influenced many of the major 20th-century writers who followed him, including Kafka, Joyce and Henry Miller. Required reading in world literature courses, the highly influential, landmark novel will also find a wide audience among lovers of books that probe the "unexplored crannies in the human soul" (George Egerton). ”Hamsun is considered to be "one of the most influential and innovative literary stylists of the past hundred years" (i.e. 1890–1990) (Robert Ferguson). He pioneered psychological literature with techniques of stream of consciousness and interior monologue, and influenced authors such as Thomas Mann, Franz Kafka, Maxim Gorky, Stefan Zweig, Henry Miller, Hermann Hesse, John Fante, James Kelman, Charles Bukowski, and Ernest Hemingway. Isaac Bashevis Singer called Hamsun "the father of the modern school of literature in his every aspect—his subjectiveness, his fragmentariness, his use of flashbacks, his lyricism. The whole modern school of fiction in the twentieth century stems from Hamsun".” In 1886, Hamsun was saved from starvation for the second time and was sent to America, this time Chicago, where he worked as a streetcar conductor. When he was fired from his job, his friends had joined forces and all chipped in to buy him a ticket home. This, in the spring of 1888, he set sail back North; but he did not get off in Oslo as planned, he sailed on to Copernhagen. It was when he was standing on deck watching the ship sail away from Oslo (the Christiania, contemplating the defeats he had suffered here that one of the most important sentences of modern literature popped into his head: “It was in those days when I wandered about hungry in Kristiania, that strange city which no one leaves before it has set his mark upon him…” – the seed for one of the main works of the 20th century had been sown, and Hamsun sat down on the nearest sea-chests and began writing. Influenced by Nietzsche and Dostojevski, Hamsun sat in his loft chamber in Nørrebro (part of Copenhagen) and worked around the clock on his first masterpiece. In the autumn of 1888 the first part of the monumental novel “Hunger” was finished. But Hamsun was afraid of being rejected by the leading cultural persona in Denmark, Georg Brandes, and went to his brother Edward, who was chief editor of the paper “Politiken” instead. Thus, Edvard Brandes got the honour of being the first to recognize Hamsun’s talent, famously bursting out in front of the grossly shabby author: “A great future awaits you!”, adding, about the manuscript he had been presented with (i.e. the first part of “Hunger”): “It was more than just talented as so much else, it was more, something that shook me.” Edvard Brandes had no doubt that the manuscript needed to be printed, but as it was too long to be printed in “Politiken”, Edvard Brandes had it printed in “Ny Jord”. “The editor of “Ny Jord” Behrens had promised to the piece accompany by the lines “By an unknown author”. On the same day that the periodical reached its few hundred subscribers, in the first half of November 1888, the Danish-Norwegian author couple Amalie and Erik Skram had one of their saloon evenings in their home in Krogs Gade in Copenhagen. Among their gusts were some of the most famous Scandinavian authors of the period, eg. Herman Bang and Gunnar Heiberg. After having eating, the ensemble decided that it was time for spiritual nourishment, i.e. reading aloud. One of the gusts had promised to read a piece from “Ny Jord” that had made a strong impression on him. And seeing that the piece tool place in Oslo and that the hostess and several other guests were from Norway, it seemed appropriate for him to read “Hunger” aloud to the other guests. The author and theatre man Gunnar Heiberg began his reading. After about an hour he had finished. None of the guests had a shadow of a doubt: The North had been given e new, world class author. A spontaneous lined formed in front of Amalie Skram’s desk. They were all people of the pen. They had to put their emotions to paper. The author had to know immediately how strongly they felt. But who was he? Who had written the piece? Less than a week after the original publication, Carl Behrens had to have another printed. All 1.000 copies had been sold! In the cultural centre of the North, anyone who had just the slightest wish to be culturally up to date had to read the “Hunger”-piece in “Ny Jord”. It had been years since something like this had happened. The style, the theme, and what was comprehended as the crude self-exposition fascinated and shocked. The hysteria traveled to Norway…” (Own translation from Kolloen, Hamsun, pp. 64-66). Is it really possible that Hamusn could have forgotten what is arguably the greatest turning point in his life, the publication of the ”Hunger”-piece, which Kolloen appropriately calls “the moment of triumph”? Or is it pure coquetry from the 20 years older now world-wide famous, extremely succesful literary giant, who was celebrated all through Europe as one of the greatest literary geniouses, and who had just published his 26th celebrated book, Marken Grøde, that same year (1918). It is difficult to imagine that the publication of the Hunger-piece in “Ny Jord” could have been anything but a event that was clear as the light of day in the head of the 59-year old Hamsun, who wrote to Max Lester. It is utterly unique to find this epoch-making publication in a copy associated to Hamsun, and in which he even comments on his groundbreaking literary breakthrough. As far as we know, nothing like it has ever been for sale.

Romae, (Colophon: Apud Ioannem Mariam de Viottis Parmensem, in aedibus Birgitttae), 1555. Folio. Bound to style in later (around 1950) full vellum with 4 raised bands to spine. Endpapers renewed. Old owners name on foot of titlepage. 42 unnumb. leaves + 815 pp. (p. 815 is the full page woodengraved printers device, verso blank). With 472 fine woodcuts in the text, the greatest part measuring 59x93 mm, a few half-page and some 1/3-page, among these the full-page map over Scandinavia (the smaller sized "Carta Marina"). Only few scattered brownspots, probably lightly washed by the rebinding. From ab. p. 500 the upper margins have some faint dampspots, which on ab. 25 leaves has left some small loss of paper, and on a few places the loss of a letter in the caption title, but everywhere professionally repaired with paperpulp where needed. First edition of Magnus' great work, which constitutes the first larger geographical-ethnographical description of Scandinavia and one of the most important sources on the customs of the Northern peoples and daily life in the 16th century."Olaus Magnus (1490-1557) was the last Catholic archbishop of Sweden, which he left in 1524. This book is still one of the most importent sources on Northern customs and daily life of the time. The artist of the wood-cuts is unknown but most of them are made after drawings by the author. 13 editions were published in 16th century and several in the following, comprising translations into Dutch, French, German, Italian and lastly into Swedish. The history was intended to expand the information in the large map, "Carta marina", which Olaus Magnus published in venice in 1539, and of which only one copy was known, until a second was discovered in 1962 and acquired by the University Library of Upsala." (Swedish Books 1280-1967, no.18).Collijn 2, pp. 221-7. - Sabin, 43830.In reality, this famous work is a large commentary with notes to Olaus Magnus' famous map, the "Carta Marina", which he published in Venice in 1539, of which only two copies are known. The Carta Marina ("Map of the Sea" or "Sea Map"), is the earliest map of the Nordic countries that gives details and place names. Only two earlier maps of Scandinavia are known, those of Jacob Ziegler and Claudius Clavus. The "Carta Marina" is reproduced here in smaller size.The woodcut illustrations and views are of the greatest importance to the cultural history of the Nordic countries, as they illustrate the religions, folklore, occupations, as well as the geographies, fauna etc. of the Scandinavian people. They have since been reproduced a number of times. The artist is not known, but they are probably carved after sketches by Olaus Magnus himself. Swedish Books 1280-1967, No. 18. - Collijn "Sveriges Bibliografi intill År 1600", II: p. 221 ff. - For "Carta Marina" see Ginsberg "The History of the Nordic Map": 33.

Amsterdam, D.J. Changuion en P. den Hengst, 1783. Folio. Bound in 2 cont. hcalf with raised bands. Gilt backs. Tome-and title-labels in red and green. Top of spine on vol. one very slightly worn. Partly uncut (39,5 x 28 cm.). On thick paper. Wide margins. Occassional brownspotting, mainly in text and margins of plates. Volume 2 dampstained more or less affecting the plates, mostly on verso of images, but on about 2o plates also seen on image, mostly as a yellowing of margins. 2 engraved title-vignettes, descriptive text to plates, 1 double-page engraved townplan and 102 double-page fine engraved plates (28 x 36 cm.). First edition of this marvellous town-atlas, the greatest work describing 18th century Amsterdam with its houses and buildings set up in their environments of places and canals.

Bamberg u. Würzburg, bey Joseph Anton Goebhardt, 1807. 8vo. Contemporary full paper binding with gilt title- and tome- label to spine. Minor wear to extremities. Internally totally fresh and clean. A small paper flaw to blank bottom of title-page. A splendid copy in completely original condition. (8), XCI, (3, - errata), (1, - half-title), 765, (1), (2, -adverts) pp. The very rare first edition, in a splendid copy, of Hegel's first major work, "Phenomenology of Spirit", in which he gave the first systematic account of his own philosophy. The Phenomenology of Spirit can be read as the itinerary of human reason. It traces the development of the categories of reason from the basic categories of sense perception to the manifestations of absolute spirit as religion, art, and philosophy. As the historical coming into being of reason coincides with the genesis of its self-awareness, the Phenomenology of Spirit also offers a justification of the human condition. The importance of Hegel's work for the development of modern thought cannot be overestimated. The dialectical structures which keep in place Hegel's thought shall determine the trajectory of Marx and - through the lectures of Alexandre Kojève - the course of modern French philosophy.

Paris, 1901. Small folio. Original printed wrappers. The fragile wrappers have been expertly restored along the edges. A stain to back wrapper, a closed horizontal tear, and spine re-enforced. A bit of soiling and discolouration. With a library-label to top of front wrapper, from the Bibliothèque des professeurs St-Stanislas, Mons, of which there is a book-plate to half-title and a stamp to title-page. Wrappers loose. Internally some brownspotting and finely restored marginal chipping, far from affecting text. 32 pp. Richly illustrated. Exceedingly scarce original offprint of Torres y Quevedo's publication of his seminal algebraic machines, constituting a milestone in computing history. In this thoroughly illustrated publication, Torres y Quevedo explains the construction and operation of the first accurate calculating machines, following his explanation of them before the French Academy of Sciences earlier the same year. "At the end of the nineteenth century, several analog machines had been proposed for solving algebraic equations. These machines -based not only on kinematics principles but also on dynamic or hydrostatic balances, electric or electromagnetic devices, etc.- had one important drawback: lack of accuracy. Leonardo Torres was the first to beat the challenge of designing and implementing a machine able to compute the roots of algebraic equations that, in the case of polynomials of degree eight, attained a precision down to 1/1000. The key element of Torres' machine was the endless spindle, an analog mechanical device designed to compute log(a +b) from log(a) and log(b). This short account gives a detailed description of this mechanism." (Federico Thomas: A Short Account on Leonardo Torres' Endless Spindle). Leonardo Torres y Quevedo (1852 -1936), civil engineer and mathematician, was a one of the most important Spanish inventors of all time. Although little known outside of Spain and France in his life-time, he was an inventor of the utmost importance and would later be recognized as one of the most significant inventors of the beginning of the twentieth century. Apart from pioneering accurate automated calculation machines, he was also a pioneer in the development of the radio control, the inventor of a chess automaton (the first decision-making automaton), an innovative designer of the three-lobed non-rigid Astra-Torres airship as well as the Whirlpool Aero Car located in Niagara Falls, and with his Telekine, he created wireless remote-control operation principles."Leonardo Torres was probably the most eminent Spanish engineer in the first half of the 20th century. He had a great influence, truncated by the Spanish Civil War, in the development of automatic control in Spain. As Randell points out in, we can only speculate on what might happened if Torres' writings had become better known to the English-speaking world. For instance, he qualifies Torres' paper Essays on Automatics as "a fascinating work which well repays reading even today." The paper contains what Randell believes to be the first proposal of the idea of floating-point arithmetic. It seems clear that Torres' contributions deserve much wider appreciation outside Spain". (Federico Thomas: A Short Account on Leonardo Torres' Endless Spindle). "Because of Torres Quevedo's work on analog machines, the Paris Academy of Sciences welcomed his "Calculating Machines" report in 1900. As a result, he was elected to the Academy of Sciences in Madrid in 1901, where he delivered a lecture on algebraic machines.The endless spindle was a critical component of the 8-term equation-solving computing machine. It created sums to answer the algorithm's central equation. The mechanism was the first of its sort, and it was the most intriguing and unique of Torres Quevedo's inventions.Torres Quevedo's calculating machine was both theoretically and practically groundbreaking. The endless spindle is a mechanical device that evaluates an expression's logarithm as the sum of numerous logarithms, overcoming the difficulty of reaching enough precision with an automatic set of parts." (The History of the Computer) The algebraic machine of Torres was an analog computing device, featuring a mechanism based on cone-shaped pulley with a helical groove around it. The machine was used for the resolution of equations like: + Ax = B or + Ax = B. His publications marked the beginning of a new era in mathematical theory, and his contributions resulted in the creation of cutting-edge new machinery. "Torres Quevedo's writings ushered in a new era in mathematical theory based on new concepts. His contributions led to the development of innovative new machines.He built a series of analog calculating machines to complement his theoretical work, all of which were mechanical." (Torres Quevedo Museum - where another copy of the present offprint is displayed) "Leonardo Torres (1852-1936), usually known as Leonardo Torres y Quevedo in Spanish-speaking countries, was a Spanish engineer and mathematician. He was president of the Academy of Sciences of Madrid, a member of the French Academy of Sciences, and famous-mainly in Spain and France- as a prolific and successful inventor... Some of the earliest Torres' inventions took the form of mechanical analog devices, considered of great originality, aiming at implementing what he called the Algebraic Machine. This machine had the ability of computing the values of arbitrary polynomial functions in one variable. Since it was an analogue machine, the variable could attain any value, not only a preestablished set of discrete values, contrarily to what happened, for example, with the celebrated Babbage's Difference Engine, an engine that used the method of finite differences to generate successive values of polynomial functions. In Torres' Algebraic Machine, all quantities were represented by means of angular displacements in logarithmic scale. Then, adding a counter to keep track of the number of turns, it was possible to compactly represent very large variations for all quantities. When the wheel representing the variable spun round, the final result was obtained as the angular displacement of another wheel that accumulated the addition of all involved monomials. When this result was zero, a root of the function was found. Using proper modifications, it was even possible to obtain the complex roots. The use of logarithms had two main advantages. Firstly, assuming that all absolute errors for the angular displacements were constant, all relative errors for the represented quantities were also kept constant. Secondly, the computation of monomials was greatly simplified. Actually, the logarithm of a monomial of the form aixi is an expression, ai+ilogx, that can be easily calculated using a differential transmission. Nevertheless, the use of logarithms had a number of disadvantages. It was necessary to introduce some transformations to ensure that all quantities were positive and, what was much more challenging, it was necessary to design a sophisticated mechanical device able to compute log(a +b) from log(a) and log(b) that would permit to accumulate the sum of all involved monomials. This device was the endless spindle. In 1893, Leonardo Torres presented, before the Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences, a memoir on his Algebraic Machine. In his time, this was considered an extraordinary success for Spanish scientific production. In 1895 the machine was presented at a congress in Bordeaux. Later on, in 1900, he would present his calculating machine before the Paris Academy of Sciences." The present offprint, which richly illustrates, demonstrates, and presents his seminal calculating machines, was published after his presentation at the Academy of Sciences in Paris, and as he says in the preface to the present offprint "the theoretical principles of these machines have very recently been exposed in a mémoire entitled "Machines à calculer" [See Tomash & Williams: T 47, printed 1902], presented by me at the l'Académie des Sciences, which should appear also in the "Recueil des Savants étrangers." (own translation from p. (5) ). This publication is of the utmost scarcity, and we can locate merely two copies of this offprint: at the Torres y Quevedo-museum in Spain, and at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

København, F. E. Bordings Bogtrykkeri, 1851. Small 8vo. Simple contemporary brown full calf with double gilt lines and gilt title to spine. Spine worn, especially upper capital, which is split and lacking a bit of the leather at top. Front hinge and corners work. Binding generally tight and solid, strictly contemporary, and unrestored. Front free end-paper with owner's inscription of "Edv. Munch", dated 1886, in pencil. First and last leaves with brownspotiing, but overall very nice and clean. Bound with the leaf containing the testimony of the three and eight Witnesses on recto end verso respectively. (8), 568 pp. Exceedingly rare first edition thus, namely the seminal first printing of the first translation into any language of the Book of Mormon. After the Prophet Joseph Smith's original translation of the Book of Mormon from the gold plates into English in 1829 and the return of those plates to the angel Moroni, no translations from English into any other languages appeared until this Danish translation of 1851. After this groundbreaking first translation, the Book of Mormon has been translated in its entirety into 95 languages (with portions of the book having been translated into another 20 languages) and has been printed in more than 150 million copies. The divine injunction states that "every man shall hear the fulness of the gospel in his own tongue, and in his own language" (D&C 90:11), and thus making the Book of Mormon available in other languages was regarded as highly important. Missions were opened on the continent of Europe in 1850 and 1851, and Church leaders in many of the newly opened missions quickly began attempts at translations. The Danish edition had already been contemplated in 1845, however, and was thus the very first to appear, meaning that Latter-day Saints in Denmark were the first to read the Book of Mormon in their native tongue.At a general conference in 1845, President Brigham Young appointed Apostle Erastus Snow and Elder Peter Olsen Hansen to work on this Danish translation of the Book of Mormon, which would open up the Book of Mormon to other-language speakers of the 19th century. Peter O. Hansen was a native Dane and was to do the actual translation, while Erastus Snow was to guide Hansen and be in charge of publishing . They both arrived in Copenhagen in May 1850 and precisely a year later Snow could report back that the Danish translation had been printed, in 3000 copies. Many of these are now lost or destroyed, and the first edition of the book is of the utmost scarcity. (See, Andrew Jenson: History of the Scandinavian Mission, 1927).

[London, Eyre and Spottiswoode], 1880, 27th November + 1882 + 1885 (1): 8vo. Unbound. With a recent, discreete paper spine. A few smaller tears to extremities. 4 pp. + 1 plate (showing electric light bulbs].(2): 8vo. Original self-wrappers. Stitched at spine. Near mint.(3): 4 pages 8vo. Scarce original printed patent for the seminal invention that is the incandescent light bulb. Though usually erroneously ascribed to Thomas Edison, it was in fact Joseph Swan who invented the light bulb and ended the dark ages. - Here sold together with the extremely scarce offprint of Swan's 1882 speech on his seminal invention as well as a highly important and interesting autograph letter on the same subject, namely "the new filament or "Artificial Silk" as I have been calling it", in which Swan also confirms his priority in invention and warns against letting the withsent speciman fall into the hands of lamp makers. Swan first publicly demonstrated his incandescent carbon lamp at a lecture for the Newcastle upon Tyne Chemical Society on December 18th 1878. However, after burning with a bright light for some minutes in his laboratory, the lamp broke down due to excessive current. By 1879 Swan had solved the problem of incandescent electric lighting by means of a vacuum lamp and he publicly demonstrated a working lamp to a larger audience. He was not completely satisfied, however, as there were still some fundamental problems attached to it that would make it impossible to consider the invention completed. By 1880, however, he had finally reached perfection. The striking improvements consisted in the carbonised paper filaments being discarded in favour of "parchmentised" cotton thread. Finally, he deemed his milestone invention worthy of filing a patent, and on that memorable day of November 27th 1880, he was granted that most important British Patent No. 4933, "Electric Lamps", marking man's final conquest of darkness. "My invention relates to electric lamps in which is produced by passing an electric current through a conductor of carbon so as to render it incandescent, said carbon conductor being enclosed in an air tight and vacuous or partially vacuous glass vessel.It is well known that the practical efficiency of the kind of electric lamp above described has hitherto been impaired by the want of homogeneity and compactness in the carbon conductors, and by the imperfection of the contact betwixt it and the metallic conductors which convey the electric current to it. I have found that an exceedingly solid, homogenous, and elastic form of carbon, peculiarly adapted for the formation of arches, spirals, or other forms of conductor for electric lamps, can be produced from cotton thread which has been subjected to the action of sulpuric acid of such strength as to cause a similar kind of change to take place in the thread to that which takes place in the bibulous paper in the well known process of making vegetable parchment." (Lines 6-19 in the present patent).From the time of his patent, Swan began installing light bulbs in homes and landmarks in England. His house, Underhill on Kells Lane in Low Fell, Gateshead, was the world's first to have working light bulbs installed. In 1881 he founded his own company, The Swan Electric Light Company and began commercial production of his light bulb.The invention of the light bulb is a turning point in the history of mankind, like the wheel or the invention of the printing press. As McLuhan put it in his groundbreaking main work, "a light bulb creates an environment by its mere presence." (p. 8). It does not have content in itself, as e.g. a newspaper, but it is a medium with a social effect strong enough to change the way we think, act, and behave. A light bulb enables people to create spaces during nighttime that would otherwise be enveloped by darkness. Electric light is "pure information" - a medium without a message. "Whether the light is being used for brain surgery or night baseball is a matter of indifference." Both activities, he explains are in some way the content of electric light, as they could not exist without the light. The medium that is electric light shapes and controls the scale and form of human association and action. The question of who the actual inventor of the light bulb was has been greatly debated ever since those crucial years of 1879-80. Working on the invention at about the same time as Swan, but independently, was Thomas Edison. In America, Edison had been working on copies of Swan's original light bulb. Though Swan had beaten him to this goal, Edison obtained patents (November 1879) for a fairly direct copy of the Swan light, and started an advertising campaign that claimed that he was the real inventor. Swan, who was less interested in making money from the invention, but who had still established the first commercial manufacture of incandescent light bulbs, agreed that Edison could sell the lights in America while he retained the rights in Britain. They soon agreed, however, to work together.Following his successful laboratory experiments in 1878, Swan let two years pass before taking steps to patent his invention. It might be difficult to understand why Swan did not make more haste and let Edison beat him to it, but the answer seems to be fairly clear: "the principle of the carbon lamp had long been known. The fact that he had made this principle workable, was not in Swan's opinion capable of sustaining a patent." (The Pageant of the Lamp, p. 28). The patent that he saw fit to take out was that for the step in the process which made the light bulb perfectly functional and ready for commercial launch - only then did it make sense to take out the patent. In principle, Edison's earlier patent contains nothing new. Only with the patent by Swan, the true inventor of the light bulb, is the incandescent light bulb presented for the first time in it fully functioning form. Edison and Swan, both practical men, soon agreed to more or less simultaneous discovery of the light bulb, and they decided to cooperate. "As it was, the two inventors took the sensible view. Litigation would only have squandered their energies and resources; and in 1881 they wisely combined forces, their respective English companies being merged into the Edison & Swan United Electric Light Company Limited." (The Pageant of the Lamp, p. 29). "When the inventors united in a combination which gave them a virtual monopoly, it was Swan's parchmentised cellulose which glowed in the fine lamps of Edison and Swan." (The Pageant of the Lamp, p. 31).The Savoy in London, was the first public building in the world lit entirely by electricity. Swan supplied about 1,200 incandescent lamps, powered by an 88.3 kW (120hp) generator on open land near the theatre. The builder of the Savoy, Richard D'Oyly Carte, explained why he had introduced Swan's electric light: "The greatest drawbacks to the enjoyment of the theatrical performances are, undoubtedly, the foul air and heat which pervade all theatres. As everyone knows, each gas-burner consumes as much oxygen as many people, and causes great heat beside. The incandescent lamps consume no oxygen, and cause no perceptible heat."[15] The first generator proved too small to power the whole building, and though the entire front-of-house was electrically lit, the stage was lit by gas until 28 December 1881. At that performance, Carte stepped onstage and broke a glowing lightbulb before the audience to demonstrate the safety of Swan's new technology.THE INCLUDED LETTER reads: "I herewith send a specimen of the new filament or "Artificial Silk" as I have been calling it. It is as you are probably aware produced on the same principle as silk i.e. from a liquid which solidifies immediately after emission from aperture. Made thick it is very like silk-worm gut -- made thinner it is like hair. Very superior carbon filaments can be produced from it. I do not wish any of it to go into the hands of lamp makers. Therefore please return the specimen together with the lamp to the stand at the EXn (i.e. exhibition). I have told Howard Swan who has charge of my stand at the Exhn to let you have the Miner's Safety Lamp. I was the first to propose this application of the incandescent lamp & the first to actually make such a lamp. Very truly yours, J.W. Swan."

Vienna, Ignazio Alberti, 1791. 4to. Magnificent contemporary full mottled calf with richly gilt spine. gilt ornamental borders to boards and large oval centre-pieces, each encircled by a floriated gilt border, inside which a female figures of polished calf, in Roman style - presumably predicting Minerva (the goddess of wisdom and war) on the front and Juventas (the goddess of youth) on the back board. All edges of boards gilt and inner gilt dentelles. All edges gilt. Bound by G.F. Kraus of Vienna, with gold-stamped binder's signature to inside of back board. A bit of wear (mostly coming from the acid used to mottle the calf in the 18th century). A magnificent copy that is also internally in splendid condition. It is printed on thick, heavy paper and with wide margins. There's an elegant stamp to the title-page, a crowned monogram that we have not been able to identify. Exceedingly scarce first edition - in a stunning binding - of the groundbreaking main work by Antonio Giuliani, in which he formulates his political and economic system, presenting his theory of population growth, which antedates Malthus' "Essay on Population" by seven years.This influential work actually constitutes the forerunner and the first formulation of The Malthusian theory of population and population growth, which had an immense impact on not only politics, economics and social sciences, but also on natural sciences. For instance both Darwin and Wallace considered the theory of population growth a main source in their development of the theory of natural selection.Malthus does not explicitly reference the work, but it is very likely that he read it. It was published in both Italian, German, and French - and apparently also in English as "A Political Essay on the Unavoidable Revolution incident to Civil Societies" (Molini, Paris, London, 1791) (see Watt: Bibliotheca Britannica) seven years before Malthus published his work, and it was reviewed in England the following year, where it was met with great critique - like some years later Mathus' "Essay on Population" would be too. "At a time when the science of politics is undergoing such extensive discussions, and when the improvement of our knowledge in the art of governing is sought practically, as well as in theory, this writer steps forward, and tells us that our reasoning is vain, and that our exertions are fruitless: that human wisdom and political fagacity neither impede nor hasten the fate of societies: that ministers and statesmen, who suppose that they govern the world, are mistaken, for the world governs itself: that there is a propelling force, of which politicians are ignorant, that drives all civil societies to their destruction; and that, from the excess of their strength, arises their decay: - in fact, that all our pretended knowledge is useless, if not hurtful; and that the science of legislation is like that of physic; its pretensions are quackeries, and its progress is marked with an increase of mischiefs, as a greater number of persons die since the art of healing has been practised. The mystery which our politician has developed amounts to this: that every country arrives in time to such a degree of population, that the produce of the ground is not sufficient to supply the wants of the inhabitants: the consequence necessarily is, that the nation is starved to death. - All the light, says he, that the most profound meditation on the nature of social bodies can furnith, must be reduced to this proposition, that there exists two classes of men, which ought to be exactly balanced: the one is the productive class, which furnishes the food by which life is sustained: the other is the consuming class, which exists only by the favour of the former. It is incontrovertible, then, that an equilibrium should be preserved between these two bodies; and that societies can flourish only while it remains unaltered. This fortunate state is of short duration: men multiply, without any law being provided to proportion their increase to their means of subsistence.This is the ground-work of our author's system, of which he afterward unfolds several parts. The inhabitants of cities, the monarch, the noble, the magistrate, the priest, the merchant, the soldier, the courtier, the man of letters, the artist, and all those whose industry and talents are employed in a thousand various manners, form the consuming class, and are, in fact, a heavy load, pressing down the farmers or cultivators of the ground, who are the productive class. ...In order to shew the danger resulting to society from an excess of population, and from the extension of commerce, (for this is also a doctrine held by our author,) he should have proved that there were more persons in existence than could have their wants supplied by the culture of the earth...He sees nothing but the approach of ruin in the increase of mankind; and the catastrophe of the tragedy must long since have been finished, had not Providence ordained that man, wanting, as in the case of other animals, a variety of different species to prey on his life, should take into his hands the work of thinning the world; and, by fighting, one against another, keep population within bounds; while, by destroying, from time to time, the superfluous number, he should make room for the entrance of fresh generations. - Hence, then, the utility and absolute necessity of wars!...Such is the ground-work and basis of Signor Guiliani's system: the superstructure is as perishable as the foundation is rotten: he has erected his house on the sand."(Contemporary review of the original and the French translation, in: The Monthly Review, Vol. IX, London, 1792, pp. 559-562). The work outlines a well-rounded system of politics and economics, at the core of which we have the theory of population growth."An important contribution to the history of political philosophy is made by two small works recently disinterred by Croce and composed 1791 and 1793 by an Italian of Trieste, Antonio de Guiliani, an Austrian subject who studied with an alert and unprejudiced mind the political and economic vicissitudes of Europe in the period between the enlightened despotism of Joseph II and the outbreak of the French Revolution. From his first writing, "Saggio politico sopra le vicissitudini inevitabili delle societa civili," Guiliani, who in his youth had shared in the generous illusions of illuministic rationalism, already appears disillusioned, as if he no longer believed in the power of reason to regulate and guide the course of human events. According to him, man believes that everything is guided by reason because he reasons on everything that happens. On the contrary, the forces that govern the interweaving of events are much more elemental and natural, and politicians are rather passive instruments than active artificers of the course of history. There is an elemental principle of life that regulates the life and death of social groups. This principle is as much hidden from politicians as the principle that animates living species in concealed from physicians. Man falls sick and dies despite the efforts of much vaunted science; and societies languish and die in spite of the efforts of politics and legislation. This principle consists in the fact that there exist two classes which ought to balance one another - the class that produces economic goods, and the class of consumers that only exists by virtue of the former, and which corresponds to a certain extent with the "sterile" class of physiocrats. As long as the two classes balance, society has a prosperous and harmonious life, and these conditions are usually found in the less progressive phases of an historical period when the mass of production sufficiently covers consumption. But in the periods that are generally considered most progressive, when population is rapidly increasing and great urban agglomerations begin to appear, Giuliani is on the contrary inclined to note a beginning of decadence and dissolution. "The equilibrium of the two classes begins insensibly to alter; men multiply without any restraining law to regulate the increase of population according to the means of subsistence. Instead the politicians hail with satisfaction the increase of population and do not perceive that in nature the various living species are balanced by mutual destruction, while man, with whom no other animal can enter into competition, is condemned to regulate his species himself, and to be the author of his own destruction." Hence revolutions, wars, commercial rivalries, and all those vicissitudes of human history that are usually named from their apparent causes, though they have at the same time a hidden reason disguised in the undeviating order of nature. The English reader will easily recognize here the characteristic traits of the doctrine of Malthus, but it is Malthusian doctrine "avant la lettre", as it antedates by seven years the famous "Essay on Population". There are wanting in Giuliani the mathematical determination of the two series, arithmetical and geometrical (which is anyway the most arbitrary part of the "Essay" of Malthus), and the council of moral restraint. Nevertheless, both authors are equally alive to the complex consequences resulting from the disproportion between population and the means of subsistence, and both have, as Croce says, "the merit of having considered not only the paradisiacal aspect of "crescite et multiplicamini", that of placid, increasing, and idyllic prosperity, but the demonic and revolutionary aspect as well." ... Finally we may note the characteristic that Giuliani, like Mathus, deduces from his economic principle a political attitude that is not only conservative but to some degree reactionary." (Guido de Ruggiero: Philosophy in Italy. In: Philosophy, Vol. 9, No. 34. (Apr. 1934), pp. 215-17).We have been able to locate only four copies of the true first edition (namely that in Italian, printed in Vienna) on OCLC and no copies at auctions whatsoever.Einaudi: 2603.

Wien & Leipzig, Wilheml Braumüller, 1900. 8vo. In contemporary half cloth with gilt lettering to spine. Endpapers brownspotted. Offprint from: "Zeitschrift für Volkswirtschaft, Socialpolitik und Verwaltung", Achter Band. 'Vom Verfasser' inscribed on upper right corner of title-page. With previous owner's dedication to pasted down front end-paper: "An H. Furuja (Oct. 1947) / Seiichi Tobata Leipzig August 1928", and to verso of front free end-paper: "Zugleich / S. S. 129-360 von Eugen von Böhm -Bawerk: Kleine / Abhandlungenåuber Kapital und Zins, hrsg von / Franz X. Weiss. 1926 Wien und Leipzig". A fine copy. (4), 127, (1) pp. Presentation copy of the rare offprint, being also the first separate edition, of this important contribution to the problems of capital theory, in which Böhm-Bawerk elaborates and defends his theories presented in 'Positive Theory of Capital' (1889). Bohm-Bawerk's thoughts on capital and interest also exerted great influence on many American economists, in particularly Irving Fisher.The present copy was given by the author to an unknown recipient, then passed on to the Japanese economist Seiichi Tobata (1899 - 1983), Professor of agriculture and economics at Tokyo University, recipient of the 1968 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service for his contributions to the modernization of Japanese agriculture."The neoclassical part of his (Böhm-Bawerk's) argument, in particular his analysis of intertemporal consumer behaviour, was taken up by Irving Fisher (1907, 1930) and developed into a theory of interest which is based on the notion of time preference and the concept of investment opportunities' (in The New Palgrave, vol.1, p.257).Specifically in this work, Böhm-Bawerk posed a problem which had not been seen before in its full importance: the role of the rate of interest in the choice of an optimal method of production' (ibid, p.258)."As civil servant and economic theorist, Bohm-Bawerk was one of the most influential economists of his generation. A leading member of the Austrian School, he was one of the main propagators of neoclassical economic theory and did much to help it attain its dominance over classical economic theory. His name is primarily associated with the Austrian theory of capital and a particular theory of interest' (ibid, p.254)

San Francisco, Wm M.Hinton & Co, 1879. 8vo. In the original full cloth binding with gilt lettering to spine and a bit of blindstamping to boeards. A bit of light spotting to front board, spine faded, and capitals worn. Hinges internally a bit weak, and a professional closed tear to cloth at spine, barely noticeable. All in all an excellent copy in this fragile original binding. Internally very nice and clean. With the bookplate of Grove L. Johnson to inside of front board. (4), 512 pp. The exceedingly scarce first edition, printed in merely 200 copies (namely the "Author's edition), of one of the most influential books ever published. Henry George's masterpiece of social reform, "Progress and Poverty", founded the ideology known as "Georgism", from which the worldwide social reform movement arose. The work initiated the Progressive Era and had a larger impact and "a wider distribution than almost all other books on political economy put together", as John Dewey put it (John Dewey's Foreword to Geiger's "The Philosophy of Henry George" (1933)). "The present century has been marked by a prodigious increase in wealth-producing power. The utilization of steam and electricity, the introduction of improved processes and labor-saving machinery, the greater subdivision and grander scale of production, the wonderful facilitation of exchanges, have multiplied enormously the effectiveness of labor.At the beginning of this marvelous era it was natural to expect, and it was expected, that labor-saving inventions would lighten the toil and improve the condition of the laborer; that the enormous increase in the power of producing wealth would make real poverty a thing of the past", is how Henry George introduces his grandiose work of social reform. But though people naturally expected labor-saving inventions to improve working- and living conditions for all, quite the opposite was the case. As towns and cities grew - and grow - and new technologies continually improve methods of production and exchange, so misery, poverty and crime continued - and continues - to increase. Henry George magnificently pointed out the association of progress with poverty and how that precisely came to be the cause of our social and political difficulties. He pointed out, how this problem, if unsolved, would mean the downfall of civilization. And he provided the remedy - "Deduction and induction have brought us to the same truth: Unequal ownership of land causes unequal distribution of wealth. And because unequal ownership of land is inseparable from the recognition of individual property in land, it necessarily follows that there is only one remedy for the unjust distribution of wealth: we must make land common property." More precisely, Henry George proposed a single tax on land values.Henry George's revolutionary first book, "Progress and Poverty" sold millions of copies and became a world-wide bestseller. In sales, it exceeded all other books except the Bible during the 1890s. The first edition, however, was only printed in 200 copies, designated "Author's Edition" and is very scarce - not least in the original binding."During the 1890s George, author of the 1879 bestseller Progress and Poverty, was the third most famous American, after Mark Twain and Thomas Edison. In 1896 he outpolled Teddy Roosevelt and was nearly elected mayor of New York.""When Progress and Poverty first came out in 1879, it started a worldwide reform movement that in the US manifested in the fiercely anti-corporate Populist Movement in the 1880s and later the Progressive Movement (1900-1920). Many important anti-corporate reforms came out of this period, including the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890), a constitutional amendment allowing Americans to elect the Senate by popular vote (prior to 1913 the Senate was appointed by state legislators), and the country's first state-owned bank, The Bank of North Dakota (1919)." (Stuart Jeanne Bramhall: Karl Marx vs Henry George, 2013).And the work continued to exercise its enormous influence throughout the Western world. According to a survey among British parliamentarians in 1906, the work was more popular than Walter Scott, John Stuart Mill, and William Shakespeare, and there is almost no end to the line of famous thinkers, who describe "Progress and Poverty" as life-changing, including George Bernard Shaw, Friedrich Hayek, H. G. Wells, and Leo Tolstoy, who like Winston Churchill, John Dewey, Bertrand Russell and many others claimed that it was impossible to refute Henry George on the land question. Philip Wicksteed characterized the book as "by far the most important work in its social consequences that our generation or century [1882] has seen", Alfred Russel Wallace hailed it as "undoubtedly the most remarkable and important book of the present century," and placed it above Darwin's "Origin of Species", Albert Einstein concluded "Men like Henry George are rare unfortunately. One cannot imagine a more beautiful combination of intellectual keenness, artistic form and fervent love of justice. Every line is written as if for our generation", etc., etc. PROVENANCE: Grove Lawrence Johnson (1841 -1926) was an American attorney and politician from California. In addition to serving in both houses of the state legislature, Johnson also served as a United States Representative.

Kbhvn., 1835-47. Indbundet i et smukt nyere hldrbd.af rødt gedeskind m. rygforgyldn. i gl. stil, i kassette. Med nogle brugsspor og nogle blade fint opforede i bladkanter, indimellem tæt beskåret. Originaludgaven af H.C. Andersens første eventyrsamlinger hvis 6 hefter udgør 2 bind. - Her er de 2 hefter i 1. oplag., mens de 4 er i 2. oplag. De få eksisterende eksemplarer er næsten alle en sammenblanding af disse oplag, ligesom eksemplarerne har visse mangler mht. titelblade, smudstitelblade og indholdsfortegnelser.1. Hefte: Smudstitelblad, titelblad samt 1. blad i faksimile. 61 pp. samt indholdsfortegnelse. 1 oplag. 1835.2. Hefte: Titelblad, 76 pp. samt indholdsfortegnelse. 2. oplag, 1844.3. Hefte: Smudstitelblad, titelblad, 60 pp. samt indholdsfortegnelse. 1. oplag, 1837.Ny Samling - 1. Hefte: Smudstitelblad, titelblad, 58 pp. samt indholdsfortegnelse. 2. oplag, 1846.Ny Samling - 2. Hefte: Smudstitelblad, titelblad i faksimile, 53 pp. (pp.47-48 i faksimile) samt indholdsfortegnelse, 2. oplag, 1847.Ny Samling - 3. Hefte: SMudstitelblad, titelblad, 49 pp. (pp. 48-49 i faksimile). Indholdsfortegnelse på p. 49. 2. oplag, 1847.Printing and the Mind of Man, No. 299. - Birger F. Nielsen, Nr. 266-70, 276-79, 303-05, 325-28, 352-55, 408-11. Bound in a beautiful recent full leather binding of red goat skin. Back richly gilt in old style, in slipcase. Some traces of use and some leaves neatly restored at edges, occasionally rather shaved.The first edition of H.C.Andersen's first collections of fairy tales whose six parts make up two bindings. In the present copy two parts are first issues, while four are second issues. The few existing copies are nearly all a mixture of these issues and likewise nearly all copies have certain wants concerning title-page, half-title and tables of contents.First Part: Half title, title page and first leaf in facsimile. 61 pp. and table of contents. First issue, 1835.Second Part: Title page, 76 pp. and table of contents. Second issue, 1844.Third Part: Half title, title page, 60 pp. and table of contents. First issue, 1837.Ny Samling (New Collection) - First Part: Half title, title page, 58 pp. and table of contents. Second issue, 1846.Ny Samling (New Collection) - Second Part: Half title, title page in facsimile, 53pp. (pp.47-48 in facsimile) and table of contents. Second issue, 1847.Ny Samling (New Collection) - Third Part: Half title, title page, 49 pp. (pp. 48-49 in facsimile). Table of contents on p. 49. Second issue, 1847.These publications brought H.C.Andersen international fame. The critical world hailed the "eventyr" as a new genre.

Tokyo, Ichibe Yamanaka., Meiji 14. (1881). 8vo. 3 volumes, all in the contemporary (original?) yellow wrappers (Traditional Fukuro Toji binding/wrappers). Extremities with wear and with light soiling, promarily affecting vol. 1. Title in brush and ink to text-block foot. A few ex-ownership stamps. Folding plate with repair. A fine set. 46 ff; 70 ff. + 9 plates of which 1 is folded; 72 ff. "Vol. I contains prefaces to 1st and 2d editions of Descent of man Nos 936 & 944; vol. II contains chapter 1 and vol. III chapter 2. All published, intended to form 9 vols containing chapters 1-7 and 21." (Darwin-Online). The exceedingly rare first translation of Darwin's Descent of Man and the first (partial) translation of Origin of Species, constituting the very first translation of any of Darwin's work into Japanese and, arguably, being the most influential - albeit in a different way than could be expected - of all Darwin-translations. "The first translation of a book by Darwin was published in 1881: a translation of The Descent of Man, titled as Jinsoron (On the Ancestor(s) of Man; Darwin 1881). The translator was a scholar of education, Kozu Senzaburo (...). In spite of its title, the book was actually a hybrid, which included a mixture of chapters of the Descent (namely, chapters 1-7 and 21) together with other texts: the Historical Sketch that Darwin appended to the third edition of the Origin (1861), and some sections taken from Thomas Huxley's Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature (Kaneko 2000). So this book can also be described as the first publication including a partial translation of a text from the Origin" (Taizo, Translating "natural selection" in Japanese: from "shizen tota" to "shizen sentaku", and back?)Darwin's theories had a profound influence on Japan and Japanese culture but in a slightly different way than in the West: Darwinism was marked as social and political principles primarily embraced by social thinkers, philosophers and politicians to advocate the superiority of Japanese culture and society (and military) and not by biologist and zoologist. "It was as if Darwin's famous oceanic journey and the meticulous research into the animal and plant kingdoms that he spent his life undertaking had all been staged as an elaborate excuse for composing a theory whose true object was Victorian society and the fate of the world's modern nations." (Golley, Darwinism in Japan: The Birth of Ecology).The popularity of Darwin's works and theories became immensly popular in Japan: "Curiously, there are more versions of "The Origin" in Japanese than in any other language. The earliest were literary, with subsequent translations becoming more scientific as the Japanese developed a technical language for biology." (Glick, The Comparatice Reception of Darwinism, P. XXII)Darwin's work had in Japan - as in the rest of the world - profound influence on the academic disciplines of zoology and biology, however, in Japan the most immediate influence was not on these subjects but on social thinkers: "[...] it exerted great influence on Japanese social thinkers and social activists. After learning of Darwin's theory, Hiroyuki Kato, the first president of Tokyo Imperial University, published his New Theory of Human Rights and advocated social evolution theory (social Darwinism), emphasizing the inevitable struggle for existence in human society. He criticized the burgeoning Freedom and People's right movement. Conversely Siusui Kautoku, a socialist and Japanese translator of the Communist Manifesto, wrote articles on Darwinism, such as "Darwin and Marx" (1904). In this and other articles, he criticized kato's theory on Social Darwinism, insisting that Darwinism does not contradict socialism. The well known anarchist, Sakae Osugi published the third translation of On the Origin of Species in 1914, and later his translation of peter Kropotokin's Mutial Aid: A Factor of Evolution. Osugi spread the idea of mutual aid as the philosophical base of Anarcho-syndicalism." (Tsuyoshi, The Japanese Lysenkoism and its Historical Backgrounds, p. 9) "Charles Darwin's theory of evolution was introduced to Japan in 1877 (Morse 1936/1877) during Japan's push to gain military modernity through study of western sciences and technologies and the culture from which they had arisen. In the ensuing decades the theory of evolution was applied as a kind of social scientific tool, i.e. social Spencerism (or social Darwinism) (Sakura 1998:341; Unoura 1999). Sakura (1998) suggests that the theory of evolution did not have much biological application in Japan. Instead, Japanese applied the idea of 'the survival of the fittest' (which was a misreading of Darwin's natural selection theory) to society and to individuals in the struggle for existence in Japan's new international circumstances (see also Gluck 1985: 13, 265).However, at least by the second decade of the 1900s, and by the time that Imanishi Kinji entered the Kyoto Imperial University, the curricula in the natural and earth sciences were largely based on German language sources and later on English language texts. These exposed students to something very different from a social Darwinist approach in these sciences. New sources that allow us to follow" (ASQUITH, Sources for Imanishi Kinji's views of sociality and evolutionary outcomes, p. 1)."After 1895, the year of China's defeat in the Sino-Japanese War, Spencer's slogan "the survival of the fittest" entered Chinese and Japanese writings as "the superior win, the inferior lose." Concerned with evolutionary theory in terms of the survival of China, rather than the origin of species, Chinese intellectuals saw the issue as a complex problem involving the evolution of institutions, ideas, and attitudes. Indeed, they concluded that the secret source of Western power and the rise of Japan was their mutual belief in modern science and the theory of evolutionary progress. According to Japanese scholars, traditional Japanese culture was not congenial to Weastern science because the Japanese view of the relationship between the human world and the divine world was totally different from that of Western philosophers. Japanese philosophers envisioned a harmonious relationship between heaven and earth, rather than conflict. Traditionally, nature was something to be seen through the eyes of a poet, rather than as the passive object of scientific investigations. The traditional Japanese vision of harmony in nature might have been uncongenial to a theory based on natural selection, but Darwinism was eagerly adopted by Japanese thinkers, who saw it as a scientific retionalization for Japan's intense efforts to become a modernized military and industial power. Whereas European and American scientists and theologians became embroiled in disputes about the evolutionary relationship between humans and other animals, Japanese debates about the meaning of Darwinism primarily dealt with the national and international implications of natural selection and the struggle for survival. Late nineteenth-century Japanese commentators were likely to refer to Darwinism as an "eternal and unchangeable natural law" that justified militaristic nationalism directed by supposedly superior elites". (Magner, A History of the Life Sciences, Revised and Expanded, p. 349)"Between 1877 and 1888, only four works on the subject of biological evolution were published in Japan. During these same eleven years, by contrast, at least twenty Japanese translations of Herbert Spencer's loosely "Darwinian" social theories made their appearance. The social sciences dominated the subject, and when Darwin's original The Origin of Species (Seibutsu shigen) finally appeared in translation in 1896, it was published by a press specializing in economics. It is not surprising then that by the early 20th century, when Darwin's work began to make an impact as a biological rather than a "social" theory, the terms "evolution" (shinka), "the struggle for existence" (seizon kyôsô), and "survival of the fittest" (tekisha seizon) had been indelibly marked as social and political principles. It was as if Darwin's famous oceanic journey and the meticulous research into the animal and plant kingdoms that he spent his life undertaking had all been staged as an elaborate excuse for composing a theory whose true object was Victorian society and the fate of the world's modern nations." (Golley, Darwinism in Japan: The Birth of Ecology).Freeman 1099c

Kjøbenhavn, Reitzel, 1844. 8vo. (8), 184 pp. Bound in a black glitted full paper binding mimicking Kierkegaard’s gift-bindings. With Gothic gilt lettering and printing year to spine. Top edge gilt, otherwise uncut. Bound by Anker Kyster’s Eftf. 1958, more specifically Bent Andree, with his name in pencil under the book-binder stamp on front free end-paper. A bit of wear to extremities. One leaf loose. The copy is a most curious one. It was been washed and restored and then bound by one of Denmarks’ best bookbinders of all time, clearly under specific instructions to both keep it original, but to also reflect the typical bindings Kierkegaard had made. The copy is on fine, bright white vellum-paper (!), uncut, and bound with the original back-strip with the original printed title-label, preserving all of the printed text and with blank blue wrappers of the exact same paper as the back-strip. To our knowledge, The Concept of Anxiety did not appear in blue blank wrappers. It did, however, appear in the characteristic blue paper binding. The wrappers here bound in, however, do not match this paper exactly. A unique copy of the scarce first edition of this classic of Existentialism, being the only known copy printed on fine paper. The Concept of Anxiety is one of Kierkgaard's greatest works, his primary psychological work, and the work with which "Angst" is introduced in philosophy. It is futhermore (together with Sixteen Unbuilding Discourses - the amputated Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses), the rarest of Kierkegaard's works, at is was printed in half as many copies as his other works. Not a single presentation-copy of the work is known to exist, no copy on special paper has been registered (before this), and merely a single copy of the work is listed in the auction catalogue of Kierkegaard’s books sold after he died (the whereabouts of this copy unknown). This could possibly be the hitherto unlocated copy from Kierkegaard’s own collection. Or it could be a copy he gave away, the only one to have ever surfaced. It is undoubtedly one or the other, seeing that it is on special vellumpaper, on which Kierkegard only had copies made for himself, for presentation, or for Regine.There could be several explanations for the mystery of the bound in wrappers: 1) they are new wrappers made to match the original spine with the original printed title-label; 2) they are the original blue paper taken off the original cardboard-boards in order to bind them in a binding that mimics a Kierkegaardpresentation-binding; 3) they are unknown original wrappers, not previously registered for The Concept of Anxiety. It is this classic of Existentialism that introduced the notion of “Angst” (anxiety) in philosophy. If Kierkegaard had written nothing else, The Concept of Anxiety alone would have cemented him as one of the most important thinkers since antiquity. Nowhere else can one find an account of the concept of anxiety that comes close in importance to the one Kierkegaard gives in the present work. Using the Fall in the Garden of Eden as the foundation of the analysis, he succeeds in describing what no-one has been able to before or since. “Long before modern psychology had entered puberty, Kierkegaard unfurled advanced psychological concepts that in many senses were Freudian before Freud was around. In his primary psychological work, The Concept of Anxiety, he presents his detailed analyses of the relationship of anxiety to phenomena such as freedom, sexuality, original sin, and history.” (The Søren Kierkegaard Research Centre). Being one of his most important and influential philosophical works, The Concept of Anxiety is essential to all later existentialist writers. It was arguably this work that more than any other influenced Existentialism. The work bears a printed dedication to his beloved Poul Martin Møller, one of the most beautiful and moving dedications in a philosophical work. Poul Martin Møller was his philosophy professor, but more than that he was a moral mentor and one of a few people that Kierkegaard truly admired and cared for. Poul Martin Møller died in 1838, leaving almost no published works behind; he is the only person outside of Kierkegaard’s immediate family (here including Regine), who had been honoured with a printed dedication in any of his books. Apart from the title Sixteen Upbuilding Discourses (the amputated Eighteen Upbuilding Discourses – without the two that were quickly sold out), The Concept of Anxiety is by far the scarcest of Kierkegaard’s works – “The Concept of Anxiety was only printed in 250 copies!” (Textspejle, p. 58, translated from Danish), which is ca half of most of the other works. It is, interestingly, the only one of the pseudonymous writings from the period that was reprinted, despite the poor sales numbers of the first issue. In the summer of 1847, when Reitzel buys the remainders of the first issue, a mere 165 copies of what is arguably now considered Kierkegaard’s most important work had been sold. The Concept of Anxiety is not only notorious for its pivotal importance in the history of philosophy and for essentially being the theoretical foundation of Existentialism; among Kierkegaard collectors and bibliophiles in general, it is also notorious for its scarcity, having been printed in a mere ca 250 copies. Furthermore, like Fear and Trembling, not a single presentation-copy of the work is known to exist, nor had any copy printed on special paper ever been discovered (until now). A single copy of the work is listed in the auction catalogue of Kierkegaard’s books sold after he died. But the whereabouts of this copy is unknown (possibly until now). Himmelstrup 62. The present copy is no. 24a in Girsel's "Kierkegaard" (The Catalogue) which can be found here.

Kjøbenhavn, Reitzel, 1844. 8vo. 100 pp. Original gift-binding of the black glitted paper with single gilt lines to spine and all edges gilt. Spine very neatly restored. The restoration covers a bit of the glitted paper that has been worn off, but the restoration in barely noticeable. A splendid, clean, fresh, and tight copy. Old owner’s name (Jens Jørgensen) to front free end-paper. The only known presentation-copy, that for Madvig, of Kierkegaard's religious accompaniment to his seminal philosophical stage work (Stages on Life's Way), Three Discourses on Imagined Occasions.Inscribed to front free end-paper: ”Til Hr Prof. Madvig / R af D. / Med ærbødig Høiagtelse / fra / Forf.” (i.e. for Mr. Prof(essor) Madvig / R of D. (Ridder (i.e. Knight) af Dannebrog – an honorary title / with respectful / reverence / from / the Author”). As Stages on Life’s Way, Three Discourses... is divided into three sections: confession, marriage, and death – three crucial occasions in the life of each single individual. The three imagined discourses that constitute the present work – What It Means To Seek God, On the Occasion of a Confessional Service; Love Conquers All, On the Occasion of a Wedding; The Decisiveness of Death, At the Side of a Grave – deal with fundamental questions such as guilt, sin, forgiveness, marriage, and death. They all involve the anxiety of making a decision, a theme that is central in Kierkegaard’s philosophical as well as religious thought, placing these imagined discourses centrally in Kierkegaard’s “first” authorship. Johan Nicolai Madvig (1804-1886) was a classical scholar and politician. As one of the greatest classical scholars of the nineteenth century, Madvig’s influence on scholarly and cultural life in Denmark can hardly be overestimated. Madvig served five times as rector of the University of Copenhagen, president of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters as well as the first chairman of the Carlsberg Foundation. Alongside his astonishingly prolific scholarly career, Madvig had a very successful political career, serving as chairman of the Danish Parliament, president of the Privy Council and Minister of Education. As the leading Danish classical scholar of his time, Madvig discussed with Kierkegaard parts the manuscript for On the Concept of Irony before the public defense of the thesis and continued to play an important role in his life. Only one single presentation-copy of the Three Discourses has been registered and is known to exist (the present). Himmelstrup 76. The present copy is no. 29 in Girsel's "Kierkegaard" (The Catalogue) which can be found here.

Venetiis [Venice], Cum Preivilegio [Paolo Manuzio], 1553. 8vo. In a contemporary unrestored vellum binding with three raised bands. Later paper labels pasted on to upper and lower part of spine. "Stracc. / de /Mercat." written in contemporary hand to spine. Upper and lower part of front hinge slightly cracked. "sum Marii D'Abbatis" written in contemporary hand to pasted down front free end-paper. Early oval stamp on verso of title-page with monogram. Aldine woodcut device to title-page (Ahmanson-Murphy device no: B2). Occasional marginal annotations and very light occasional marginal water-staining. Tiny wormhole in blank outer margin not affecting text. A very nice, clean, and completely unrestored copy. (40), 287, (1) ff. (with the four blanks 5+6-8 and 2N8). As usual with the typopgraphical errors: "63 '64', 85 '87', 87 '85', 102 '106', 165 '167', 174 '176', 176 '178'". These errors are to be found in all published copies. Exceedingly rare first edition of Stracca's highly important work on merchant-, economic insurance-, and insurance-law. With the present work, Stracca provided the first systematic exposition of commercial law, in particular maritime law, which he was the first to view as distinct from civil law. He was furthermore the first to consider these aspects of the law from a practical point of view, thereby breaking with the late Medieval scholastic law-tradition. Maritime law, often referred to as admiralty law, was developed in Venice in the middle of the 13th century, prompted by the extensive Mediterranean sea trade in which the republic engaged. Legal agreements concluded between consortiums were ad hoc and even though by the time of Straccha, the practice was both well-established and quite refined when one compares to the rest of Europe, no full and systematic exposition of the subject had been published, until Straccha wrote his influential treatise. The work was extremely influential and extremely popular with eight reprints in the 17th century (after the present first edition from 1553: 1555, 1556, 1558, 1575, 1576, 1595, 1599). Numerous reprints in the course of the 17th century bear witness to its longstanding influence. "In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, continental jurists began to regard the affairs of merchants as matter of sufficient interest to warrant special attention and separate treatment in legal writing. Beginning with Benvenuto Straccha's De Mercatura, seu Mercatore Tractatus published in Venice in 1553, a substantial literature on commercial law developed." (Rogers, The Early History of the Law of Bills and Notes, p. 151)Stracca's work deals with the merchant class and commerce in general; mercantile contracts, maritime law, and how to deal with bankruptcy. "His work contains information of interest to economists. He shows the usefulness of trade and navigation; discusses the restrictions on certain branches of trade, and expresses comparatively moderate opinions on the theory of usury." (Palgrave).The aspect of insurance was particularly important to Venetian traders, for whom the loss of a single ship could mean bankruptcy. Initially, smaller companies went into coorporation with other smaller companies and created consortiums in order to spread out the risk. Eventually, the practice of insuring oneself through such consortiums became commercialized which lead to the emergence of companies that profited from this line of business: "A separate sector in which there were many opportunities for making profit from money was insurance. In this sector the damnum emergens [ensuing expense] had a purely hypothetical basis, not a real one. Certainly the element of risk played a plausible role in the case of transport by sea: a subject that was particularly dear to the Ancona jurist Benvenuto Stracca, author of one of the first treatises on trade law and editor of a large collection of writings on mercantile doctrine and jurisprudence." (Palgrave).Not in BM STC Renouard 156:6. "Ce volume imprimé en petites lettres rondes est rare." Einaudi 5491. Kress 69. Goldsmiths 52. Adams S.1911.Ahmanson-Murphy 444Houkes p. 237

Paris, l' Imprimerie Royale, Plassan, 1749 - 1789. 4to (262 x 205 mm). Uniformly bound in 32 contemporary full sprinkled calf bindings with five raised bands and richly gilt spines. Leather tome- and title-labels to all volumes. Edges of boards gilt. Light wear to extremities primarily affecting head and foot of spines, corners bumped. Internally with light occassional, marginal brownspotting, but generally fine. With "J. Collin" (Danish zoologist Jonas Collin) to top margin of most front free end-papers. An overall nice set comprising the following:Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière (15 vols) - 578 plates and 2 maps.Supplément à l'Histoire naturelle (6 vols) - 141 plates and 2 maps.Histoire naturelle des Oiseaux (9 vols) - 257 plates.Quadrupedes Ovipares et des Serpens (2 vols) - 66 plates. A total of 1042 plates and 4 maps. Wanting the portrait. The complex collation of this work has not been accurately described by bibliographers. Nissen and Heilbrun differ in the listing of number of plates and misname the descriptions of the plates. First edition of this extensive landmark work in natural science. After his death several other volumes were published making the total number of volumes 44. Together with Diderot's Encyclopaedia, this work represents the peak of book printing of the French enlightenment. Buffon was the first to sum up an entire natural history, based on science instead of theology; It constitutes one of the first attempts to provide a comprehensive account of the natural world aiming at describing the entire known natural world - including plants, animals, and minerals - in a single work. Buffon based his work on first-hand observations and scientific analysis, rather than on second-hand accounts or mythological beliefs, making it a seminal work in the development of modern science. "Buffon's "Natural History, General and Particular" presented for the first time a complete survey of natural history in a popular form [...] he was the first to present the universe as one complete whole and to find no phenomenon calling for any but a purely scientific explanation. In 1739, he was appointed Director of the Jardin du Roi (now Jardin des Plantes). It would appear that the 'Natural History germinated in the preparation of a catalogue of the royal collection. Buffon then enlarged its scope to Aristotelian or Plinian proportions and finally transformed it into a conspectus of nature of a breadth and depth previously unknown". […] he was the first to present the universe as one complete whole and to find no phenomenon calling for any but a purely scientific explanation." (PMM). Buffon's work had a significant impact upon the field of natural history and influenced many other scientists, including Charles Darwin; In a part of the work, ("Des Epoqeus de la Nature" (Supplement vol. V, 1778, present here)), Buffon attacked several Christian doctrines on natural science. He saw man as a part of the animal world, he objected to earth being only 6000 years old, and he dismissed a rigid classification system thus paving the way for Darwin's thoughts a century later:"Georges Buffon set forth his general views on species classification in the first volume of his Histoire Naturelle. Buffon objected to the so-called "artificial" classifications of Andrea Cesalpino and Carolus Linnaeus, stating that in nature the chain of life has small gradations from one type to another and that the discontinuous categories are all artificially constructed by mankind. Buffon suggested that all organic species may have descended form a small number of primordial types; this is an evolution predominantly from more perfect to less perfect forms." (Parkinson, Breakthroughs). "Buffon's work is of exceptional importance because of its diversity, richness, originality, and influence. Buffon was among the first to create an autonomous science, free of any theological influence. He emphasized the importance of natural history and the great length of geological time. He envisioned the nature of science and understood the roles of paleontology, zoological geography, and animal psychology. He realised both the necessity of transformism and its difficulties. Although his cosmogony was inadequate and his theory of animal reproduction was weak, and although he did not understand the problem of classification, he did establish the intellectual framework within which most naturalists up to Darwin worked." (DSB) From the library of Danish zoologist Jonas Collin (1840-1905), who issued a new edition of Kjærbølling's "The Birds of Scandinavia" in 1875-1877 (See Anker 251) - a work most likely inspired by his knowledge from his (i.e. the present) copy of Buffon's "Histoire Naturelle".The 'Histoire Générale' was widely reprinted and translated. Sometimes only individual sections were produced, other times the complete work appeared. PMM 198.Nissen 672.Brunet I, 376.Dibner 193.Sparrow p. 23.Anker 6.

Mainz, Balthazar Lipp, 1605. 4to. Bound in a beautiful 18th century full mottled calf binding with double gilt line-borders to boards. Edges of boards gilt. Expertly rebacked perfectly matching the boards and the gilding. With gilt leather title-label and gilt ornamentations. End-papers renewed. B2 and B3 defective in lower blank margins, not affecting text. A nice and clean copy. 53, (1) pp. + 1 folded plate and numerous illustrations in text. The exceedingly rare first edition of the first work to describe the construction of the adjustable proportional compass – the first work to describe both its construction and its application. The adjustable proportional compass became an indipensable tool for calculations and measurements for over three centuries. The proportional compass was a seminal calculating instrument in use from the end of the sixteenth century until the nineteenth century. Consisting of two rulers of equal length joined by a hinge, it was a precursor to the sector and could be used for solving problems in proportion, multiplication and division, geometry, and trigonometry, and for computing various mathematical functions, such as square roots and cube roots. The sector derives its name from the fourth proposition of the sixth book of Euclid, where it is demonstrated that similar triangles have their like sides proportional. Some sectors also incorporated a quadrant, and sometimes a clamp at the end of one leg which allowed the device to be used as a gunner's quadrant. “The device was apparently first developed by Joost Bürgi and first published by Levinus Hulsius (1604). Hulsius offered the instrument for sale and thus limited himself to instructions for its use and did not detail its construction. The present work provides construction details on the hindge and the creation of the scales.” (Tomash & Williams). The sector was invented, essentially simultaneously and independently, by a number of different people prior to the start of the 17th century. Credit for the invention is often given to either Thomas Hood (who did not claim priority himself), a British mathematician, or to the Italian mathematician and astronomer Galileo Galilei. Galileo, with the help of his personal instrument maker Marc'Antonio Mazzoleni, created more than 100 copies of his proportional compass design and trained students in its use between 1595 and 1598. Of the credited inventors, Galileo is certainly the most famous, and earlier studies usually attributed its invention to him. James Kynvyn, Robert Beckit and Charles Whitwell all at some point also seem to have claimed to priority of the invention.Giordano Bruno, shortly before his death, also saw its potential. It could measure the infinitesimal fractions of the angular degrees and calculate the proportions between lines, geometric shapes and solids, working on the proportionality and commensurability of angles and segments. This new precision in calculations confirmed Bruno’s thesis of the existence of the physical minimumas opposed to the Aristotelian thesis of the infinite divisibility. (see: Zaffino, Giordano Bruno and the Proportional Eight Spike Compass) The many claims of invention, however, do not deprive Horcher of being the very first to describe the actual construction of the instrument, thus being of seminal importance in its widespread use over more than three hundred years. Tomash & Williams H164