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First printings of three very early Humboldt essays on political theory (or more precisely, the limits of state action) which formed part of a book-length manuscript that - because of the fear of censorship for its radicalism - was published only posthumously in 1851 under the title 'Ideen zu einem Versuch, die Gränzen der Wirksamkeit des Staats zu bestimmen'. This was very influential on John Stuart Mill, who took a quotation from it as his epigraph to 'On Liberty'. The Berlinische Monatsschrift was the main publication spreading the Enlightenment in Germany. It was the organ of the Mittwochsgesellschaft, the Berlin Wednesday Society , a secret group of 'Friends of Enlightenment' whose members included Johann Friedrich Zöllner and Moses Mendelssohn, as well as the Monatsschrift editors, Gedike and Biester. The monthly magazine's 168 issues came out between 1783 and 1796. Fifteen essays by Kant made their first appearance in its pages, most famously his answer to Zöllner's question What is Enlightenment? in the December 1784 issue. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: The entire Volume 20, 8vo, 606 pp., one folding table, contemporary half calf over speckled boards, rubbed, uniform light browning, a bit heavier in places, generally very good. Seller Inventory # ABE-1518096941904
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