Hume (Over 11,000 results)

Second edition, a splendid copy of Hume's greatest treatise, both his first work and the most comprehensive exposition of his philosophical system. The Treatise is widely recognized as "one of the most important philosophical works written in English" (Weber, p. 171). The Treatise was first published in three volumes in 1739-40. The philosopher Jerry Fodor called the work "the founding document of Cognitive Science" (cited in Weber, p. 171). Hume set out to incorporate all philosophy and science in an empirical analysis of human nature, paralleling Newton's achievement in physics. "The consequences of this simple proposition were to be even more radical when applied to moral subjects than they had been when applied to natural ones, a century earlier. The multiplication of philosophical systems, which had brought metaphysical reasoning into disrepute, would be at an end" (ODNB). Most of Hume's later work was a revision of the principles and ideas expressed in the Treatise. Vast in scope and ambition, the treatise had an enduring influence on the leading Scottish Enlightenment thinkers of its time and on subsequent western philosophical thought. However, its first publication did not meet with immediate public success, and Hume did not again attempt such a large project of abstract philosophy. The long delay until this second edition reflects the poor initial performance. Hume had contracted that if there was a second edition, he would buy any unsold copies of the first edition at ten shillings a volume (Butler & Ainslie, p. 6). Though he hoped sales would justify a second edition, he evidently did not wish to absorb the vast cost when this did not occur. Both the first and second editions are uncommon in commerce; it is unlikely that a finer copy still in its original boards will appear on the market. Chuo 31; Jessop, p. 14. Annemarie Butler and Donald C. Ainslie, The Cambridge Companion to Hume's Treatise, 2015; Leigh Weber, Western Political Thought, 2018. 2 volumes, octavo. Uncut in original grey boards with blue marbled paper spines, printed paper spine labels. Housed in a dark blue quarter morocco solander box by the Chelsea Bindery. Ownership inscription of "Mr Middleton" on front free endpaper of each volume. Chip at head of spine of volume I, minor loss to paper labels, first and last few leaves a little spotted; a superb set, uncut, unpressed, and largely unopened.

Hardcover. Condition: Good. 1st Edition. 4 leaves, 475, [1, publisher's ad] pp. Contemporary full leather. Leather chipped at top of spine. Joints splitting. Some pencil notes on front pastedown and front flyleaf (I can send photos of these pencil notes, upon request). Signature of former owner Dan Foster, dated 1775, on front flyleaf. Some browning and foxing in blank margins of THE first few leaves. Good. First Edition. Volume I ONLY. Volume II (Of the Passions) was published with volume I in 1739, but volume II is NOT present here. Volume III (Of Morals) was published separately in 1740 with a different publisher's imprint: London, Printed for Thomas Longman, 1740. Printing and the Mind of Man (PMM) 194.

Kl.-8°. IV + 62 S. Hardback paper binding of the time. Private widmung on the flyleaf. The black ink from the portrait can be seen on the opposing side. Light signs of use with some foxing. A fine example. Priv. Widm. a. V., die Druckerschwärze des Porträts schlägt durch, leichte Gbrsp., etw. fleckig. Schönes Expl The most important source on the life of Humes published shortly after his death in 1776. Inlcudes a plate portrait of the author by T. Cook. EA. In engl. Sprache. Mit dem gestochenen Porträt Humes von T. Cook sowie den Verlagsanzeigen und dem Schmutztitel. - Priv. Widm. a. V., die Druckerschwärze des Porträts schlägt durch, leichte Gbrsp., etw. fleckig. Schönes Expl. - Hier die wichtigste Quelle zu Humes Leben, der dies noch vor seinem Tode 1776 schrieb. Sprache: englisch.

First Edition. "(QUAKERS) H[UME], S[ophia]. An Exhortation to the Inhabitants Of the Province of South-Carolina Philadelphia: Printed by William Bradford, [1747]. Octavo, contemporary brown calf rebacked with original spine laid down, raised bands. Housed in a custom chemise and clamshell box. $12,500.Very rare first edition of this pioneering and electrifying work by Quaker minister Sophia Hume, famed across England and America for her eloquence, printed with the aid of Philadelphia Quakers and issued by the publishing house of William Bradford, who arrived in America with William Penn in 1682 and whose firm published Paine s Common Sense, scarce in contemporary calf.Sophia Hume, born in South Carolina, was the granddaughter of Mary Fisher, one of the first Quakers to preach in New England. Raised Anglican, Hume moved to England where she converted and joined the Society of Friends. "Like many other women converted during the Great Awakening around 1740, she was accused of 'Delusion' and 'religious Madness.' But despite the disapproval of her children and former friends, she traveled extensively for more than 30 years, writing and preaching both in England and the colonies" (Moynihan et al, Second to None: I). At that time Quaker "women's participation in the ministry, traditionally a masculine prerogative, sprang from Quaker belief in both genders' capacity to be guided by the Holy Spirit in inspired preaching Long before 19th-century women reformers pioneered in the secular realm, challenging social convention as females delivering public lectures, Quaker women ministers in colonial America were routinely speaking in public before 'mixed audiences' (composed of both men and women)" (Larson, Daughters of Light, 4, 10). Hume had returned to Charleston in the late 1740s where, "to spread her message further, she wrote The Exhortation and, to get it printed quickly, took the manuscript to Philadelphia," arriving there in June 1747 (Boyer, Notable American Women, 234). She "preached at a number of Friends' Meetings during the summer months and left for London in late October. In the interim the Meeting of the Society of Friends in Philadelphia promoted a subscription 'for defraying the charges of printing our frd Sophia Hume's book" (Miller 445). "Among Quaker women of her day, Hume had an extraordinary knowledge of the arts, literature and theology [The Exhortation] conveyed a fairly simple appeal for repentance and reformation, its strength derived from Hume's lifelong gift for strong phrases and intense, incantational prose" (Boyer, 234-5). With 14-stanza "Divine Love Commemorated" at rear. Sabin 33780. See Evans 5974; 6166. Early owner ink signatures to front free endpaper.Some foxing and minor embrowning to text. Contemporary calf covers nicely restored. An extremely good copy.".

First edition, first state of what Hume, himself, considered his masterpiece with leaf L3 uncancelled and with the catchword "than" on recto. Octavo, bound in full contemporary calf with five raised bands to the spine, burgundy morocco spine label lettered in gilt, gilt-turn ins. Half-title, errata, and advertisements at rear. In very good condition. Ownership signature. Housed in a custom folding chemise slipcase. Exceptionally clean internally, most rare and desirable bound in a contemporary binding. Humeâ s Treatise of Human Nature (1739-40) was the first attempt to apply principles of Lockeâ s empirical psychology to a theory of knowledge. In this and his Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, Hume stands as a leading voice in the school of Utilitarianism, â the most influential and longest continuing tradition in English speaking moral philosophyâ ¦ marked by a long line of brilliant writersâ that includes Adam Smith, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. Humeâ s Enquiry importantly explores â how we make moral judgmentsâ ¦ the â mechanismâ of moral judgments. How are they made and what accounts for their content? Hume aims to be the â Newton of the Passions.â In contrast to Locke, he does not present a normative system of principles founded on the Laws of Natureâ ¦ [but] the role it plays in social life and in establishing social unity and mutual understandingâ ¦ What Hume is trying to do is explain the fact that we agreeâ ¦ On Humeâ s view there is only one possible basis, and that is one that appeals to our principle of humanityâ ¦ the psychological tendency we have to identify with the interests and concerns of others when our own interests do not come into competition with themâ (Rawls 162, 177-87). An Enquiry was, in Humeâ s own opinion, â Of all my writings incomparably the bestâ (Autobiography). The influence of Utilitarianism as furthered by Hume was immense: â He may be regarded as the acutest thinker in Great Britain of the 18th centuryâ (DNB).

First folio edition, a particularly imposing edition of Hume's famous history, the grandest yet published. "Hume triumphantly [demonstrated] that it was possible to write such history in a manner which combined good historical argument with good writing, and thereby appealed to an extensive readership" (ODNB). The History was first published in 1754-61 and continued by Smollett after his death. Lowndes p. 1139 - "sumptuous edition". 5 volumes bound in 10, folio (460 x 319 mm). Contemporary mottled calf, twin red and green labels, speckled edges. Portrait frontispiece, 2 engraved dedication leaves, full-page engraved plates throughout. Expert repair to calf, joints, and some labels, some light foxing to contents and discolouration to endpapers. A very good set.

Very scarce first edition in German of A Treatise of Human Nature, the first translation into any language of Hume's greatest (and rarest) work; it is issued here with a commentary by Ludwig Heinrich von Jakob (1759 1827), professor of philosophy at Halle who helped greatly to popularize Hume's work in Germany. Although the translation seems late - fifty years after the work's initial publication in 1739 40 - it is, in fact, the only other edition of the Treatise to appear in the eighteenth century. A 'new edition' in English was not published until 1817, and French readers had to wait until 1878 for a translation; Spanish and Italian versions first appeared only in the twentieth century. Hume's reputation among the German philosophers throughout the nineteenth century is well known, but this translation reminds us of the importance eighteenth-century German thinkers placed on Hume's writings. In fact, Hume had begun to establish a reputation for himself in Germany during his lifetime: a set of collected works had already appeared in German in 1754 6, the Four Dissertations in 1755, and Windheim's Göttingische philosophische Bibliothek (1749 57) had been providing German readers with reviews of Hume's (and other authors') works almost as soon as they appeared in English. Adickes 364; Jessop, p. 14; not in Chuo. 3 volumes bound in 2, octavo (198 x 120 mm). Nineteenth-century ribbed cloth, blindrule border to covers, spines ruled, decorated and lettered gilt, marbled edges. Complete with the final blank to volume II. Spine ends very lightly rubbed, paper flaw to leaf M5 in volume I costing two characters, occasional light spotting; a very good copy.

First edition. Twelvemo.(166 x 95 mm). iv; 256; [4, ad] pp. Contemporary brown calf, expertly rebacked to style, spine gilt-stamped with black and red morocco labels, marbled endpapers, all edges red. Some mild toning. Very good. Better known as An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding under which title the Philosophical Essays was reprinted in 1758, the book is a reworking of the first part of Hume's Treatise of Human Nature, with the addition of his notorious essay On Miracles, which denies that a miracle can be proved by any amount or kind of evidence. The Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding is "an attempt to define the principles of human knowledge. It presents in logical form the significant questions about the nature of all reasoning in regard to matters of fact and experience, and it solves the problems by recourse to association." (Encyclopaedia Britannica). David Hume [1711-1776] "was an 18th-century British Empiricist philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, who conceived of philosophy as the inductive, experimental science of human nature. Taking the scientific method of the British physicist Sir Isaac Newton as his model, Hume tried to describe how the mind works in acquiring what is called knowledge. He concluded that no theory of reality is possible; there can be no knowledge of anything beyond experience. Despite the enduring impact of his theory of knowledge, Hume seems to have considered himself chiefly as a moralist." (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Todd 1747 (2). Jesop, p. 19. Chuo 38. HBS 66959. $10,000.

Par Mr. Law, controlleur genéral des finances. Traduit de l'anglois. First edition in French. 8vo (168 x 100mm). [4]ff, 187, [17] pp., frontispiece portrait, title printed in red and black. Contemporary tree calf, covers with single blind fillet borders, spine divided into compartments by gilt rolls, the second lettered in gilt on red morocco label, the rest with elaborate gilt tooling (some discreet repair work to the spine and front and rear joints, otherwise an excellent copy. A La Haye, Jean Neaulme. 1720. [bound with:] HUME (David). Essais sur le commerce; le luxe; l'argent; l'intéret de l'argent; les impots; le crédit public, et la balance du commerce. Trad. nouvelle, avec des réflexions du traducteur (Mlle. de la Chaux). Et lettre d'un négociant de Londres, à un de ses amis. Third edition in French. 8vo. [2], 288, [4] pp. Engraved head and tail pieces. Paris, Saillant, & Lyon, Delaroche, 1767. [bound with:] GEE (Joshua). Considérations sur le commerce et la navigation de la Grande-Brétagne. Ouvrage trad. de l'anglais (par J. B. de Secondat). First edition in French. 8vo. [28], 268 pp. London [i.e. Paris or Trévoux], A. Bettesworth & C. Hitch, rue du Pater-Noster: S. Birt, rue de l?Ave-Maria. 1749. A sammelband of three important - though in some areas conflicting - studies of commercial, economic and monetary theory by the foremost thinkers of eighteenth-century British economics, in French translation. Comprising the first edition in French of John Law?s Money and Trade Consider?d; the third French edition of Hume?s essays on finance and economics, taken from his Political Discourses (1752); and the first French edition of Joshua Gee?s The Trade and Navigation of Great Britain Consider?d (1729). John Law's most important - and infamous - work of monetary theory, first published in Scotland in 1705, proposes a system of paper money backed by land, which, Law argues, is more stable than the comparably more volatile and less predictable silver and gold. ?The central thrust in his argument was that an expansion in the money supply would lead to an expansion in output? (ODNB). Though rejected by the Scottish government, Law received permission to implement elements of his plan in France in 1716, in particular, the issuing of paper credit as part of an attempt to relieve the national debt through investment schemes. Publication of this first French translation of Law's proposal is conspicuous in its timing. The same year, 1720 saw the collapse of his so-called 'System' - the Mississippi Bubble - with ruinous consequences for the French economy: unprecedented speculation, hyperinflation, a stock market crash, and subsequently high taxation, following the state's absorption of Law's debt. Law is referred to on the title page here as 'Controlleur Géneral des Finances', a position he held from 5 January 1720 until temporary dismissal on 27 May following the first of his scheme's crises (though reappointed, dismissal became permanent on 9 December). This indicates that publication took place early in the year when his scheme still appeared to be watertight, and public opinion in France was buoyant. The collection of Hume's writings that follow contains the seven essays on finance and economics from his Political Discourses, first published in 1752. By the time that this third edition was published Hume enjoyed great repute in France both as historian and philosopher; on his arrival in 1763 to assist the British ambassador he received 'an official and personal welcome such as few foreign authors have ever received in the French capital' (Bongie, xxiv). Although not the explicit laying out of a systematic economic theory, these essays have been described as 'the beginnings of modern monetary theory' (Lucas); 'when asked what economists had learned about monetary theory in the past 25 years, Milton Friedman replied that the better question would be to ask what had been learned in the 200 years since Hume. The answer is very little, he concluded' (Schabas & Wennerlind). These essays contain Hume's most famous economic proposals, including his rejection of a mercantilist approach to trade, and his related theory of price-specie flow mechanism. The juxtaposition of Hume's work with Law's is, though not unusual, an interesting one; Hume firmly believed in a currency backed by gold or precious metals and, in contrast to Law, was sceptical about the issuance of paper notes. Indeed, Hume obliquely refers to Law in his essay on Public Credit, here, as an example of the wrong way to address national debt: 'when the nation becomes heartily sick of their debts, and is cruelly oppressed by them, some daring projector may arise with visionary schemes for their discharge. And as public credit will begin, by that time, to be a little frail, the least touch will destroy it as happened in France in 1720: much like the patient who dies from his doctor's remedy' (p. 166). The final work in this sammelband, the first French edition of Gee's The Trade and Navigation of Great Britain Consider'd, lays out Gee's staunchly protectionist approach to British commerce. 'Gee's most famous work presented an overview of British trade both historically and by national areas, and commented on specific problems (for example devoting Chapter XXII to 'French fashions pernicious to England')' (ODNB). Both Hume and Adam Smith poked fun at Gee's writing for his sensationalism, Hume attributing to him 'universal panic' at the picture he painted of the national debt. Despite this, Gee's work was well-known and widely translated, with around twenty editions published before 1780. Provenance: Nineteenth-century ownership inscription at head of flyleaf, 'Louis Curvalle', with note in Spanish 'de las cosas mas seguras la mas segura es dudan', from Simon Bolivar. 'Table de recueil' noted on verso of front flyleaf and on rear pastedown in different hand. Law: Carpenter IX (4); Einaudi, 3274; Goldsmiths', 5820; Kress 3235. Hume: Fieser 10(E.

First edition. Fergus Hume. Two Copies of The Mystery of a Hansom Cab. Melbourne and London: [1886-1887]. First and first English (second) editions. Fergus Hume. The Mystery of a Hansom Cab.A Realistic Story of Melbourne Life. Melbourne: Kemp & Boyce, [1886]. First edition, fourth printing (stated fourth "edition.") Octavo. 230, [2, ads] pages. Publisher's perfect binding, original light gray-brown illustrated paper wrappers; all text block edges trimmed. Backstrip wrinkled with some slight cracking and three tiny holes, nicks at head and foot, head reinforced with clear tape; possible repairs along joints; wrappers rippled and speckled, with two small rust stains from staples at rear and a handful of soft creases near corners; trace of wear with some nicking along edges; corners replaced with later paper. Edges of text block slightly dulled and foxed, trace of darkening to top edge; first and last few leaves foxed, recto of first leaf with Sydney bookseller's stamp at head; mild rumpling, creasing and foxing toward edges of leaves throughout, from handling. Very good overall. Scarce first edition of this Victorian bestseller. [Together with:] The Mystery of a Hansom Cab.A Startling and Realistic Story of Melbourne Social Life. London: The Hansom Cab Publishing Company, [1887 or 1888]. First English edition (second overall), with "Three Hundred Thousandth" at head of title-page. Octavo. 230, [2, ads] pages. Publisher's perfect binding, original light brown illustrated paper wrappers; all text block edges trimmed. Backstrip lightly worn and wrinkled, with some scattered spots of foxing and a few tiny nicks out of spine ends; wear along joints; wrappers foxed and faintly rubbed, with a trace of wear at edges resulting in some nicking and creasing at lower corner of front wrapper; a couple of creases and embossed stamp at upper corner of rear wrapper. Text block edges dulled, softened, and foxed; moderate foxing throughout interior of text block, with occasional spot of thumbsoiling and some soft creasing and dimpling from handling. Overall, about near fine. Housed with above in individual black cloth chemises in custom black cloth-covered book-backed slipcase. A Haycraft Queen Cornerstone.

Paperback. Condition: Very Good. First Edition. Sydney, J. Moore, 1855 (first edition). Octavo, 34 pages (thus lacking the terminal blank). Rebound in Mackaness Morocco (morocco-textured cloth) with the original green printed wrappers bound in at the rear; front wrapper has the top left-hand corner replaced; trifling signs of use and age; a very good copy with the bookplate of Dr George Mackaness. Hume's account of his famous expedition with Captain William Hilton Hovell, which established an overland route between Sydney and Port Phillip. Outraged at what he considered to be a public lack of acknowledgement of his role in the expedition, Hume was impelled to publish this account 30 years later. 'In this statement, my only object is, to show that the expedition of 1824 was led and conducted by me . and that to my exertions its success was chiefly owing . [a]lthough I have lately been made to appear but a subordinate to Captain Hovell .' (page 34). Offered together with copies of the second edition (Yass, 1873, with the original albumen paper portrait photograph frontispiece; a very good copy rebound without the wrappers in quarter morocco), and the type-facsimile enlarged third edition (Yass, 1897, in the original cloth, now a little used. This edition, published at the request of the Royal Colonial Institute in London, was limited to only 25 copies). The three volumes are housed together in a quarter calf book-form box, lettered in gilt on the spine and front. Respectively, Ferguson 10663, 10664 and 10666; Wantrup 111b, 112 and 113b. [3 items].

Condition: Near Fine. First Edition. First edition, first printing. Correct first issue with Leaf L3 uncancelled. Bound in recent half leather with marbled paper-covered boards; with front and rear blanks, half-title page, preliminary errata, three final pages of adverts. Near Fine. Contents toned, previous owner name to contents page. A cornerstone of modern philosophy and ethics, providing an analysis of moral theory and justice.

An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals. Printed for A. Millar, London: 1751. First edition, first issue, with L3 in the uncancelled state with the catchword "than". Twelvemo (6 1/2 x 3 7/8 inches; 166 x 100 mm). [viii], 253, [3 ads] pp. With errata leaf. Early nineteenth century half calf over marbled boards. Rebacked to style. Red morocco spine label, lettered in gilt. Top edge dyed brown. Page 19 with paper-flaw, affecting a few letters. A repair of a closed tear to the top of page 119, touching some letters, but with no loss. Closed tear two leaves, pp 193-196, touching a couple of letters, but with no loss. Overall a very good copy. Hume wrote of the Enquiry: "of all my writings.incomparably the best. It came unnoticed and unobserved into the world" (Autobiography, p. 16, quoted in Rothschild). "Soon after leaving Edinburgh University at the age of 15, [Hume (1711- 1776)]. embarked on a course of intense study of his own devising, which eventually led to the formulation of a complete philosophical system, published anonymously in 1739 as A Treatise of Human Nature. Hume was deeply disappointed at the reception of his revolutionary book.Blaming his own literary inexperience, Hume published anonymously in 1740 An Abstract of a Treatise of Human Nature and in 1748 and 1751 respectively Philosophical Essays concerning the Human Understanding and An Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals. Philosophical Essays was retitled An Enquiry concerning the Human Understanding in a 1758 edition.In his advertisement to a later edition of the two Enquiries, Hume expressly desired that they and not the Treatise should be â regarded as containing his philosophical sentiments and principles.' The Enquiries differ from the Treatise in style, in the omission of a number of elaborate psychological speculations, particularly concerning space, time, and sense perception, and in the inclusion of chapters on miracles, providence, and the theological implications of the free-will problem, all of which Hume had omitted from the Treatise because of their openly antireligious tendency" (The Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Jessop, p. 22. Rothschild 1174. HBS 68396. $8,500.

A famous piece of Humean apocrypha, long thought to have been inscribed by Hume with his only extant verse. Walter Scott quoted the poem in 1815 and it was kept for many years at Corby Castle, an ancestral home of the Howard family. The four lines, a reflection on Carlisle and its surrounding countryside, are as follows: "Here chicks, in eggs for breakfast sprawl / Here godless boys, God's glories squall / Here heads of Scotchmen guard the wall / But Corbie's walks attone for all" This pane originally came from the Old Bush Inn at Carlisle, where Hume is thought to have stayed overnight while travelling from London to Edinburgh in 1750. Corby(ie) Castle lies some miles to the east of Carlisle. The Worthies of Cumberland (1872) relates that "After being offered for breakfast coffee, and eggs that were half-hatched, he attended the Cathedral service, and afterwards inspected the city, its walls, and castle. None of these things at all pleased his senses. Seeking repose in the contemplations of nature, he repaired to Corby for the rest of the day" (p. 95). Walter Scott, who studied law under Hume's nephew, identifies the poem as Hume's in a letter of 2 October 1815. He recorded his visit to Corby, which was "as beautiful as when its walks were celebrated by David Hume, in the only rhymes he was ever known to be guilty of. Here they are, from a pane of glass in an inn at Carlisle" (Memoirs, p. 190). Scott then transcribes the verses with some small differences - for instance, his third line reads: "Here heads of Scotchmen do guard the wall". Although Felix Waldmann has noted that the handwriting on the glass does not resemble Hume's written hand, it is unclear whether he allows for the difficulties of engraving on glass. The hands do share some letterforms. Letters in the Carlisle Journal of 10 July 1894 state that the pane remained at the Inn until 1848, when John Bell, a local solicitor, paid a glaizer to appropriate it. Once the Corporation of Carlisle had stopped offering rewards for its return, Bell presented the pane to Philip Henry Howard (1801-1883), then owner of the castle at Corby praised in the poem. The second line of the poem has been scratched out to the point of illegibility. The Worthies attributes this to an overzealous parson. Provenance: offered at Bonhams's Scottish Sale in 2012. J. G. Lockhart, ed., Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Vol. II, 1837; Henry Lonsdale, The Worthies of Cumberland, 1872; Felix Waldmann, ed., Further Letters of David Hume, 2014. Glass pane (241 x 169 mm). Framed in the 19th century in wooden gilt frame (283 x 209 mm), recently reglazed with conservation acrylic. Nineteenth-century manuscript transcript of Scott's letter taped to rear board. With four newspaper clippings and one disbound leaf, all loosely inserted. Engraved inscription of "H. Evans 2d October 1769" to upper right corner, various other illegible inscriptions to glass. Upper left corner of glass broken away, cracking to upper half; minor rubbing to frame: a very good piece.

Second edition in English overall, the first to acknowledge Hume as the author. These controversial essays assert that individuals have a moral right to commit suicide, and that life after death is highly improbable. This edition is scarce in commerce: we trace one previous auction listing in the past 60 years. Hume (1711-1776) originally included these essays in the proposed Five Dissertations volume in 1755. Hostile reactions from readers of prepublication copies led Hume and his publisher to replace the two essays with "On the Standards of Taste", and to release the book as Four Dissertations in January 1757. Despite this, several sets of the original sheets were smuggled out: pirated copies were published anonymously in French in 1770 and in an anonymous, corrupted English edition of 1777. This edition, which reprints the 1777 text, was the first to package the essays with extracts from Rousseau's Julie: Or, The New Heloise (1781). The book was issued with a final unpaginated leaf, with a page of "Arguments against Suicide" made by the publisher: that leaf is not present in this copy. Fieser 22A.3; Jessop, p. 35. Octavo in fours (165 x 97 mm). Contemporary half calf, spine ruled in gilt between raised bands, later brown morocco label, sprinkled paper sides, edges sprinkled red. Minor bumping and rubbing, cosmetic split to front inner hinge, faint browning and foxing to endpapers, title page with skilful restoration to blank verso where stamp has been erased, contents generally fresh: a very good copy.

158 pp. Hardcover in3/4 leather binding. Includes 14-stanza "Divine Love Commemorated" at rear. Early owner ink signatures to front free endpapers (see pics). Very rare first edition of this pioneering and electrifying work by Quaker minister Sophia Hume, famed across England and America for her eloquence, printed with the aid of Philadelphia Quakers and issued by the publishing house of William Bradford, who arrived in America with William Penn in 1682 and whose firm published Paine's Common Sense Hume (1702-1774) was born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina, among the well-to-do, but spent the last three decades of her life proselytizing as a Quaker, in Charleston, London, and Philadelphia, following her conversion from the Anglican Church in 1738. "Among Quaker women of her day, Sophia Hume had an extraordinary knowledge of arts, literature, and theology, to some extent the product of her years as an Anglican. Although conversion curbed and guided her intellectual pursuits within limits approved by Quakers, she yet found it hard to justify erudition by a woman, and harder to justify her public life, by her own principles. The result was a paradoxical career: as a minister and writer she upheld the traditional view that woman should lead a secluded life devoted to home and church, as a Quaker bluestocking she expounded scripture and culled quotations from ancient and modern Christian writers to defend her sect" (Notable American Women). Evans 5974. Sabin 33780. Brinley 3870. Turnbull I, p. 112. I've done my best to describe the book, but if you have additional questions, please don't hesitate to send me an e-mail.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good +. 1st Edition. VG+, 1st edition, 1748. In modern full dark calf (to style), gilt edge tooling. Spine, raised bands, gilt tooling, gilt titles to red morocco label. Internally, [2], (iii-iv) contents, 256 pp, woodcut to titlepage, some light offsetting, lacks the 2 leaves of adverts, new (old) endpaper, small paper repair to upper tip of titlepage, small binders label to epd. (Folio, 97*166 mm). (ESTC T4022. Beauchamp p36. Alibone 915). Often known as "An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding". There were possibly as many as 750 copies published. And would be printed again in 1750 & 1751. Around 1740, after the publication of his Treatise, Hume began writing a series of shorter essays on specific economic, political, literary and philosophical topics. These were not published in literary journals or reviews, but rather in a series of essay collections. Over the course of his lifetime, Hume revised and corrected the essays and assembled new collections, combining prior collections, sometimes changing titles, adding more essays and sometimes withdrawing others.

12mo. 4 vols. (4), 331 pp. III, (1), 259, (1) pp. (4), 257, (3) pp. (4), 304 pp. Contemporary full calf, spines richly gilt with red and green label. Marbled endpapers. All edges red. First edition of the only collected edition issued by Hume himself. It is made up of re-set volumes previously issued, with cancel titles and, where the cancels were not prepared in sufficient numbers, with the original titles. Todd (p. 195) has determined the order of issue of the volumes, in part by the record of William Strahan, printer of most of Hume's works, and in part by "the sequence displayed in the sets examined". Individually, the volumes are entitled: vol. I) Essays, moral and political. The fourth edition corrected, with additions; vol. II) Philosophical essays concerning human understanding. The second edition, with additions and corrections; vol. III) An enquiry concerning the principles of morals; vol. IV) Political discourses. The second edition. - Small circular stamp ("Biblioteca A. Chambion 1848") to titles, handwritten ownership to title of volume 1. Usual mild browning and minor imperfections at bindings, but a very appealing set. - Todd a (vols. 1, 2 & 4) and d (vol. 3).

First Edition. "HUME, David. Commentaries on the Law of Scotland Respecting the Description and Punishment of Crimes. Two Volumes. WITH: Commentaries on the Laws of Scotland Respecting Trial For Crimes. Two volumes. WITH: Supplemental Notes to Mr. Hume's Commentaries on the Law of Scotland Respecting Crimes. Edinburgh: Printed for Bell and Bradfute [and for E. Balfour for first two works], 1797, 1800, 1814. Five volumes altogether. Large quarto, contemporary full brown calf, raised bands, red and black morocco spine labels. $6500.First edition of Baron Hume s groundbreaking authoritative Commentaries on the Description and Punishment of Crimes, the "standard work on Scottish criminal law" (DNB), together with first edition of his two-volume Commentaries on Trial for Crimes, and exceedingly scarce first edition of his Supplemental Notes. Rarely found together, a seminal five-volume work by the nephew of philosopher David Hume, laying "the foundations of our modern criminal law," uniformly bound in contemporary calf."A landmark event in Scottish legal history occurred in 1797 when Baron David Hume published his Commentaries on the Law of Scotland Respecting the Description and Punishment of Crimes" (Hewitt, Symbolic Interactions, 1). A revered Professor of Scots Law at University of Edinburgh, with achievements that include his appointment as Baron of the Scots Exchequer in 1822, Baron Hume was "influenced by the views of his uncle, David Hume, the philosopher, with whom he had a close friendship. The elder had supervised his education" (Criminal Law, 47n). Baron Hume "laid the foundations of our modern criminal law" (British Justice, Hamlyn Lectures). This rare complete five-volume set of Commentaries, including the rarely found Supplemental Notes, provides "the classic statement of Scottish criminal law" (Kilday, Women and Violent Crime, 32). With this groundbreaking "standard work on Scottish criminal law" (DNB), Baron Hume "carried the torch into all the recesses of actual practice. He not only made himself familiar with all the scattered matter that had been published, though much of it lay hid in places not commonly explored; but he was the very first who went systematically to the records" (Edinburgh Review 83:197). To Sir Walter Scott, Baron Hume was "an architect to the law of Scotland' (Scott on Himself, 42). Hume's lectures at the University of Edinburgh provided the basis of these works.To his contemporaries the Commentaries and Hume's authoritative research into "the rise and progress of this law will ever be held to communicate the most philosophical views of the criminal law in a popular and perspicuous manner" (Edinburgh Law Journal, I:485). Hume importantly highlights, as well, "the differences between Scottish and English laws, shaping the former into a symbol of cultural and national identity for England's 'bloody code' of hundreds of offenses punishable by death did not extend to Scotland. The differences were celebrated in Hume's Commentaries" (Hewitt, 52, 44). "The first study of judicial decisions" in Scottish criminal law, Commentaries has been officially "afforded 'authoritative' status" (Gibb & Duff,Criminal Justice Systems, 7). Hume particularly focused on common law. Like "Blackstone and Bentham in England, Kames and Hume in Scotland were intensely engaged by the question of whether and how the common-law system of maintaining continuity through precedent, and of accommodating change through reinterpretation, could meet the demands of 18th- and early 19th-century Britain As Farmer explains, 'The belief that the law matured in the late 18th century, taking the form of liberal and flexible principles [was] set out clearly for the first time by Hume. Hume affirms the sense that the past had been leading more progressively to a more enlightened present A lasting result of Hume's book and its outlook . strongly implies the autonomy of criminal law from the rest of culture" (Bardsley, Belief and Beyond, 235-239). "Indeed Hume still has high status in Scottish legal history. According to Walker . 'his examination, based on primary sources [is] invaluable" (Bardsley, Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities, V14 (2002):238-9, 20-21n). Commentaries (1797) with title page imprints, "Edinburgh: Printed for Bell & Bradfute, Booksellers to the Faculty of Advocates; And for E. Balfour." "Another issue of this work appeared in 1797 with the imprint: Edinburgh: printed for Bell & Bradfute; and E. Balfour" (ESTC T98602): no priority established. Harvard Law Catalogue I:967. Marvin, 405. Edinburgh Review 139:267. ESTC T98600; T98602; T98601. See NYU Catalogue, 251. Interior fresh and clean, only light edge-wear, minor rubbing to spine labels of boards. A near-fine set, rarely found complete and uniformly bound in contemporary calf.".

Edition of 50 and 20 artist's proofs. Each print is signed in pencil on the front or verso by the respective artist, apart from the 2 Doron prints of which one is stamp signed on the verso and the Hume print, which is signed on an additional sheet. This set contains the additional unsigned plate Please Keep Out Foot and Mouth Precautions. Other Men's Flowers is a portfolio of text-based prints by fifteen London artists curated by Joshua Compston. It was printed by Thomas Shaw and Simon Redington and published by Charles Booth-Clibborn under his imprint The Paragon Press. Paragon catalogue, Vol. I, p. 198. Title page, introduction page and colophon with 17 original prints all loose as issued. Housed in the publisher's blue card box with titles to cover in red. 16 screenprint or letterpress prints on various paper stock by 15 different artists. Sheet sizes 47 x 61 cm. All in excellent condition.

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good+. 1st Edition. The Mystery Of A Hansom Cab by Fergus Hume First Edition UK The Hansom Cab Publishing Company 1887. London. 'Seventy-fifth thousand' to title page. No previous owner's name inscriptions or marks. No loose or damaged pages, contents clean throughout. Original card covers still firmly attached and showing very little wear. A Haycraft-Queen cornerstone.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. 12mo. Pp 253. Half title (with early signature). With the uncancelled leaf L3. Errata leaf following title page and with the publisher's list at end. Coeval full calf, uniform but not displeasing wear/rubbing. Hinges secure. Lacks front free endpaper. Lacks title label to spine.

First edition, the first appearance of all four essays, complete with the dedicatory leaves to John Home. Originally the collection was to include the first three essays plus "Of Suicide" and "Of the Immortality of the Soul", but Hume omitted them fearing controversy, replacing them with "Of the Standard of Taste". It was his final major work to be published, and Hume never allowed the collection to be reprinted. The book displays considerable variation between copies. Here, the first word on p. 9 is "ative" - the first sheets were printed correctly "lative", but the "l" was then dropped, and again reinserted. The first word on p. 131 is uncorrected as "Iancing", afterwards corrected to "lancing". Cancels C12 and D1 and the omission of K5-K8 agree with the description of Todd, p. 200. The dedicatory leaves to John Home were removed by Hume and afterwards reinserted. Some copies were issued in the interim and so the leaves are sometimes lacking, here present. Chuo I, 45; ESTC T4011; Jessop, pp. 33-5; Rothschild 1176; Todd, pp. 200-1. E. C. Mossner, "Hume's Four Dissertations: an essay in biography and bibliography", Modern Philology, 48:1, 1950, pp. 37-57. Duodecimo (163 x 99 mm). Contemporary calf, gilt rules to spine, new label to style. Contemporary ownership signature of one James MacIvor to front free endpaper and title page; a few pencilled annotations to contents. Joints and extremities restored. Front free endpaper excised at head, another initial binder's blank neatly excised, slight creasing to leaves in first gathering. A very good copy.

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. No Jacket. 272 pp. ; profusely illustrated with artwork, drawings, and photographs ; red decorative cloth, no dustjacket ; ONE OF THE MOST AMAZING PSYCHIC OCCURENCES is preserved in this yearbook. A member of the graduating January class of 1933, GENEVA ABBOTT PATTERSON, (1916-2011) was asked at age 16 to imagine the city of St. Louis in the future, and she amazingly created a watercolor depicting the St. Louis cityscape and INCLUDED THE ST. LOUIS GATEWAY ARCH 15 YEARS BEFORE IT BECAME A CONCEPT IN THE MIND OF ITS DESIGNER, EERO SAARINEN IN 1947! The Gateway Arch was not completed until 1963. ; She added the following prophetic text spoken by Ulysses's wife Penelope from line 24 of Tennyson's Ulysses (1842): "Yet all experience is an Arch wherethro' gleams that untravell'd world, whose margin fades for ever, and for ever when I move" ; Geneva Abbott furthered her art studies at the Hadley Vocational School and became a member of the St. Louis Artists Guild. She worked as a commercial artist for International Shoe Company, and then turned to work as a watercolorist in St. Louis, Hilton Head, South Carolina and Vero Beach, Florida; the previous owner of the yearbook has added commentary and newspaper clippings of happenings to many of the senior class, some documenting the deaths of several in World War II, or by violence in St. Louis. Marriages of many of the women are recorded. Updated addresses and phone numbers of many former students are also added ; The yearbook has numerous articles written by students and show photographs and drawings in illustration. Subjects feature historical information about St. Louis, lists of artists, musicians with details of their lives and work are included ; all the artwork by the students reflects the then current Art Deco trends ; a very rare and historically important volume; and an exceedingly difficult-to-locate Saarinen collectible ; FINE. Book.

Diced Calf. Condition: Near Fine. First Edition Thus. 1810-1811. Printer named in colophon ; v. 1-2, 5-6 printed by Ballantyne, v. 3-4 by Thomas Davison, London. V. 3-4 have different titlepage including the information "from Thurston's designs."(Worldcat). Scholey's large-type edition, large paper Russia extra, with engravings on copper and wood. A RARE edition, finely bound in contemporary diced calf, the backs with two ornate gilt cross decorations and two polished calf labels gilt, the covers with double gilt rules bordering blindtooled arabesques, that bordering intricate gilt stamped floral decorations, and four blindtooled floral decorations in corners marbled end papers and edges. Overall Near Fine, small rubs at corners and spine tips, some toning associated mainly with plates and at end pages, the interiors lovely and clean. A quite readable set, delightfully bound. A heavy set, please be advised added shipping charges will be requested for international orders. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

First edition, the first appearance of all four essays, complete with the dedicatory leaves to John Home. Originally the collection was to include the first three essays plus "Of Suicide" and "Of the Immortality of the Soul", but Hume omitted them fearing controversy, replacing them with "Of the Standard of Taste". It was his final major work to be published, and Hume never allowed the collection to be reprinted. The book displays considerable variation between copies. Here, the first word on p. 9 is "ative" - the first sheets were printed correctly "lative", but the "l" was then dropped, and again reinserted. The first word on p. 131 is corrected as "lancing", previously "Iancing". Cancels C12 and D1 and the omission of K5-K8 agree with the description of Todd, p. 200. The dedicatory leaves to John Home were removed by Hume and afterwards reinserted. Some copies were issued in the interim and so the leaves are sometimes lacking, here present. Chuo I, 45; ESTC T4011; Jessop, pp. 33-5; Rothschild 1176; Todd, pp. 200-1. E. C. Mossner, "Hume's Four Dissertations: an essay in biography and bibliography", Modern Philology, 48:1, 1950, pp. 37-57. Duodecimo (164 x 94 mm). Contemporary calf, spine ruled in gilt. Joints and extremities neatly restored. Endpapers browned from turn ins, front free endpaper, half-title, and leaf B2 with short closed tear not affecting text, contents a little browned. A very good copy.

Manuscript hand written 1812 to 1813.Three Volumes Royal 8vo. two in contemporary calf and the third rebacked, all with papered boards. Volume One: Personal Rights. 583 manuscript pages including index. Volume Two. Real Rights. 529 manuscript pages including index Volume Three;Succession and Actions. 549 manuscript pages including index. At the rear 27 manuscript pages of The Song of Solomon. "David Hume (1757-1838), nephew of the philosopher, was appointed professor of Scots law at the University of Edinburgh in 1786. He was the outstanding law professor of his generation, and his lectures on private law, the subject of these notes, 'were highly praised and students flocked to them'. Hume forbade publication of his lectures, but copies circulated and they were cited in court, many of his pupils reaching the bench . The lectures recast Scottish private law ready for the nineteenth century' [Oxford Dictionary National Biography].

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 8vo, 134pp, half calf binding with marbled boards, spine in compartment, title lettered in gilt on red morocco.

Scarce first German language edition of essays 6-9 from the second volume of Hume's Essays, moral and political of 1742. The essays are; "The Epicurean", "The Stoic", "The Platonist" and "The Sceptic". The translation was made from the French Oeuvres philosophiques (1758). Hume's essays are followed by "Apuleius's" Discourse on happiness, translated from the French work Bigarrures philosophiques by Tiphaigne de la Roche (1759). See Jessop, p. 18. Octavo (150 x 93 mm). Contemporary marbled paper wrappers. Printed in Gothic type. Circular library stamp of the Frauenberg Cloister library at Fulda to title verso and free endpaper, pencil shelfmark erased from head of title, library shelf label removed from foot of spine. Occasional light spotting and a small rust burn to one lower margin, a few corners a little dogeared; withal a very good copy.

Hard Cover. Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket. First Edition. First UK Edition. Publisher s original dark blue boards with black lettering. Offsetting to the end-papers, a few scattered foxing spots to the fore-edge and just a hint of pushing at the head of the spine. Overall a VG+ copy. The D/W is also in VG+ condition and is priced 7/6 net to the spine as called for. The D/W is complete with a little creasing at the head and tail of the spine and minscule rubbing to the corners. A lovely copy of a very scarce crime title (and the first that I have encountered).