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First editions of two works, with an undated printing of the French constitution. 'Karl Theodor von Dalberg (1744-1817) studied theology, literature and law from 1759 in Göttingen and Heidelberg, and having (in 1761) obtained a doctorate in jurisprudence, he undertook the Grand Tour. In 1787, he became a deputy of the archbishop of Mainz and Worms, and from 1802 he was himself the archbishop and elector of Mainz. In 1806, Napoleon gave him the title of Fürstprimas of Germany and the chairmanship of the Rhenish confederation. Dalberg was widely respected among the advocates of Enlightenment for his engagement in social reforms, especially with regard to education and poverty. He also publicly supported the activities of Rudolph Zacharias Becker, who tried to promote Enlightenment. To many of his contemporaries, Dalberg seemed to be the incarnation of the hopes of enlightened reform. In his writings on political philosophy, he connected Enlightenment and humanist ideals with the ideas of enlightened absolutism. He also participated in public debates through his essays in Wieland s Teutscher Merkur and Schiller s Horen, and was in close contact with Goethe, Wieland, Herder, Schiller and Wilhelm von Humboldt. His Betrachtungen über das Universum of 1777, which went through many editions, was the philosophical and aesthetic work that was most popular among his contemporaries. In it he argued that the perfect unity of God is the law of nature that is the goal of all creation. Merck, Herder und Friedrich Schlegel were enthusiastic about this book. In 1786, Schiller took up some of Dalberg s theses in his Philosophical Letters' (Dictionary of Eighteenth-Century German Philosophers). PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Sammelband of three items, 4to, 19, 28, 24 pp., contemporary half leather over speckled boards, rebacked with gilt-lettered spine label, modern bookplate on pastedown, browning and foxing, first text with old underlining in red, second text with some old marginalia in pencil, generally good copies. Seller Inventory # ABE-1638284320587
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