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London, C. Davis and A. Lyon, 1733. 8vo. Lovely contemporary full Cambridge-style binding with five raised bands to spine and blindstamped ornamental borders to boards. . Double gilt line-borders to boards. All edges of boards with gilt borders. Gilt title to spine. Hinges neatly and professionally re-inforced. Internally very nice, clean, and fresh. A lovely, crisp, and large copy with good margins, printed on heavy, fine paper. (16, -including preface, contents, advertisements), 253, (1), (18, -Index) pp. The important actual first edition of this highly celebrated key work of the Enlightenment, in which the anecdote of how Newton discovered gravity (the story about Newton and the falling apple) appeared for the first time, together with the description of the difference between the physical world view of the English and the French (the "plenum" and the "vacuum"). This seminal work, in which Voltaire famously depicts British philosophy, science, society and culture, in comparison to French, can be viewed as the Enlightenment equivalent to Tocqueville's "Democracy in America". This series of essays, which is based on Voltaire's experiences when living in England, was actually written by Voltaire mostly in English, which he mastered to perfection. It has often been presumed that the first edition of the work was that published in French in 1734, but actually, the present English edition constitutes the actual first appearance of the work as well as the version that is closest to Voltaire's intention, as the French language version is the re-written one, and the English version the original. Curiously, almost all modern English versions are translations into English of the French edition, instead of the original English version, making this edition of the utmost importance.After the original English edition of 1733, two French editions soon followed (the first in 1734). Unlike the British, the French resented the book, and already in 1734, the French Parliament issued an order for the author's arrest and condemned the work, causing the impact of it in France to be delayed. The book was burned for being "dangerous to religion and civil order". At the same time, the work became a bestseller in Britain, and as much as 14 editions of the work were published in the eighteenth century. "Inspired by Voltaire's two-year stay in England (1726-8), this is one of the key works of the Enlightenment. Exactly contemporary with Gulliver's Travels and The Beggar's Opera, Voltaire's controversial pronouncements on politics, philosophy, religion, and literature have placed the Letters among the great Augustan satires. Voltaire wrote most of the book in English, in which he was fluent and witty, and it fast became a bestseller in Britain. He re-wrote it in French as the Lettres philosophiques, and current editions in English translate his French." (Nicholas Cronk, Introduction to the Oxford's Classics edition from 1999).The great French philosopher Voltaire was greatly impressed by the philosophical and scientific achievements of the English, especially those of Newton, Locke, and Bacon. As a disseminator of scientific knowledge, Voltaire came to play a great rôle in the popularization of Newtonian science and its discoveries, the present work being a prime example. Although the work was condemned by the French authorities, it still came to play a great rôle in the spreading of Newtonian ideas in France. The present work generally came to play a dominant rôle in Enlightenment accounts of the history of science and philosophy. The work focuses on British science and thought and uses the accounts of these to emphasize what is lacking in French society and French thought. The work is generally very critical towards the French "ancient régime", and when Voltaire here discusses the emergence of empiricism, it is viewed as an English tradition that stands in opposition to the French rationalist tradition (with Descartes as the prime example). This view is taken over by the following Enlightenment historians of science and philosophy, e.g. d'Alembert (see for instance his "Preliminary Discourse" of 1751). Some of the most influential passages of the work are probably those on Bacon (who Voltaire sees as the founder of modern experimental science), Newton, and Descartes. Letters XIV, on Descartes and Newton, XV, on attraction, and XVI, on Newton's Optics (from 1704), are among the most influential essays of the work. In XVI Voltaire reflects upon Newton's "Optics" and the way that he rejected Descartes' theory and set out his own account of the properties of light. In XV he presents the first account of Newton and the falling apple: "As he was walking one Day in his Garden, and saw some Fruits fall from a Tree, he fell into profound Meditation on that Gravity, the Cause of which had so long been sought, but in vain, by all the Philosophers, whilst the Vulgar think there is nothing mysterious in it. He said to himself, that from what height soever, in our Hemisphere, those Bodies might descend, their Fall wou'd certainly be in the Progression discover'd by Galileo; and the Spaces they run thro' would be as the Square of the Times. Why may not this Power which causes heavy Bodies to descend, and is the fame without any sensible Diminution at the remotest Distance from the Center of the Earth, or on the Summits of the highest Mountains; Why, said Sir Isaac, may not this Power extend as high as the Moon?..." (pp. 127-28).But perhaps the most famous passage in the volume is the opening of Letter XIV: "A Frenchman who arrives in London, will find Philosophy, like every Thing else, very much chang'd there. He had left the World a "plenum", and he now finds it a "vacuum". At Paris the Universe is seen, compos'd of Vortices of subtile Matter; but nothing like it is seen in London. In France, 'tis the Pressure of the Moon that causes the Tides; but in England 'tis the Sea that gravitates towards the Moon; so that when you think that the Moon should make it Flood with us, those Gentlemen fancy it should be Ebb, which, very unluckily, cannot be prov'd..." (pp. 109-10).

Paris, Didot le jeune, 1773. Large 12mo (167 x 98 mm). In a nice contemporary full mottled calf binding with five raised bands. Spine richly gilt. Boards with gilt frame and edges of boards gilt. Occassional very light browning and a very vague damp-stain in lower outer corner affecting some pages. An overall very nice copy. XXIV, 248, (4) First edition of Parmentier's groundbreaking work that revolutionized the understanding of potatoes and their biological and chemical properties. Published in 1773, Parmentier's work sheds light on the scientific aspects of potatoes, their nutritional value, and their potential to address food scarcity and malnutrition. Permentier aimed at dispelling myths about and prejudices against potatoes, which were considered as food for livestock and were largely neglected as a human food during that era. His discoveries eventually caused Louis XVI, the French Monarch to declare: “La France vous [Parmentier] remerciera un jour d’avoir trouvé le pain des pauvres” (i.e. France will thank you one day for having found the bread of the poor). Parmentier's work on potatoes was a significant scientific breakthrough. By applying principles of chemistry and experimental analysis, he revealed the rich nutritional content and potential health benefits of this versatile crop. Parmentier's experiments showcased the potato's high water content, carbohydrate content, and its impressive array of vitamins and minerals. He also explored the potato's medicinal properties, using it to treat various ailments such as dysentery and scurvy. The publication of "Examen Chymique des Pommes de Terre" had a profound impact on society. Parmentier's research highlighted the importance of potatoes as a sustainable food source capable of supporting large populations. In an era plagued by famine and general food shortages, Parmentier's findings played a vital role in combating hunger and malnutrition. His efforts to promote potatoes as a staple food contributed to their acceptance and eventual integration into European diets. Parmentier's book had a lasting legacy shaping the fields of botany and chemistry. His meticulous observations and experiments on potatoes laid the groundwork for further scientific studies into plant chemistry and nutrition. Parmentier's work inspired subsequent researchers to explore the chemical composition of various crops, ultimately expanding our understanding of the fundamental building blocks of life. Moreover, his promotion of potatoes as a reliable and nutritious food source has left an permanent mark on agricultural practices worldwide. Not in Vicaire, Cagle, or Oberlé.

Tokyo, Kaizosha, 1927-1928. Small4to. 5 volumes all in publisher's original full red cloth with gilt lettering to spine, all five volumes house the original slipcases. Free end-papers browned and only very light sporadic brownspots throughout. A very fine and clean copy. Rare first complete Japanese translation of Marx's 'Das Kapital'. In response to the Russian October Revolution young Marxists produced in rapid succession partial translations of Marx's works and secondary accounts of the same. Japanese translations of Marx's works were comparatively late compared to those in Europe. Japanse translations, however, did exercise a great influence in Asia and especially in China where several of the early translations were made from the Japanese. "Similarly, Takabatake Motoyuki, the first to produce a complete Japanese translation of the three volumes of 'Capital', created a system of Marxist national socialism. Asserting the "Marxism was originally statism", Takabatake cited Thomas Hobbes and other western state theorists to support the notion that the state preceded class society and would not wither away after a proletarian revolution. To guard against external threats and to organize economic activity at home - against the possibility of proletarian imperialism on the part of Soviet Russia, for eksample - a socialist Japan would require a powerful state" (Hoston, Marxism and the Crisis of Development in Prewar Japan).

Kiøbenhaffn, (Melchior Martzan og Salomon Sartor), (1632-) 1633. Folio. (37,5 x 24,5 cm.). Nær samtidigt hellæderbind over svært træ. De ægte bind markeret i blindtryk på ryggen. Permerne er begge forsynet med talrige mindre stifter med store hoveder i messing til beskyttelse af permerne ved opslag. 2 lukkestroppe med blanke messingbeslag hvor den lille klo på det ene er bortslidt. Bindet er antageligt fra sidste halvdel af 1600-tallet og ganske velbevaret. Blokken er noget løs, men heftesnorene, som er intakte skal fastgøres på permernes inderside, hvilket kræver noget lim og måske en fornyelse af forsatsbladene. Halvtitelblad, 2 deltitelblade. Kobberstukket titelblad, kobberstukket portræt af Christian IV. (24),353,226,157 blade (af 159 - sidste tekstblad og registerbladet mangler til Ny Testamente). Teksten med talrige træsnit. Halvtitelbladet, som næsten altid mangler, er løst og kantflosset. Et blad løs i heftningen. Enkelte blade i Fortalen med smårifter og lettere kantflossede. En del af de sidste blade i Ny Testamente med slid i ydre marginer. Enkelte blade kantforstærkede. Med talrige træsnit i teksten. Originaltrykket af den sidste af de danske foliobibler, trykt af den første kongelige bogtrykker Melchior Martzan og for 2. dels vedkommende af Salomon Sartor. De træskårne illustrationer er de samme som anvendtes i Frederik II's Bibel fra 1589. De 4 kobbere (portrættet og de 3 titelblade) er stukket af Simon de Pas.The scarce first edition og the last (the third) of the Danish folio-bibles, known as "Christian IV's Bible", being a slightly revised edition of the Bible of 1589.Bibl. Dan.I,9 - Thesaurus II, 378. - Birkelund, 41. - Darlow and Moule, 3160.

Hamburg, Excud. Iac. Wolffius, impens Paulus Brachfeldus, 1591. 4to. Senere halvpergament med mønstret papir over permerne. Professionelt restaurerede revner ved de først to blade, intet tab. Titelblad jævnt brunet, ellers blot en smule lettere brunpletning i margin af nogle blade. (28), 176, (7) pp. Pp. (76)-(77) udgør den kobberstukne planche (lidt tæt beskåret ved marginerne), der afbilder Jellingstenen. Tre store træskårne illustrationer i teksten. Træskårne initialer og vignetter. 4to. Later nice half vellum vith patterned paper over boards. Neatly repaired tear to first two leaves, no loss. Title-page evenly browned, otherwise only a bit of occasional minor marginal brownspotting. (28), 176, (7) pp. Pp. (76)-(77) constituting an engraved plate (a bit shaved at margins). Three large woodcut illustrations (ab. 1/2-page) in the text. Woodcut initials and vignettes. The exceedingly rare first edition of the work in which we find the first depiction of the Jelling Stone, also known as "Denmark's birth certificate", and its famous rune inscription for the first time in print. The work is of exceptional importance to Danish history and specifically important to our current knowledge of the Jelling Stone and where it was placed. The Jelling stone is a massive carved runestone from the 10th century, found at the town of Jelling in Denmark. It was raised by King Gorm's son, Harald Bluetooth in memory of his parents, celebrating his conquest of Denmark and Norway, and his conversion of the Danes to Christianity. The runic inscriptions on these stones are considered the best known in Denmark and are of the utmost importance to the history of the country. The seminal Jelling Stone is often called "Denmark's birth certificate", because Denmark is named in the inscription and also because the stone is a clear material proof of the change in religion - from paganism to Christianity. Furthermore, it is strongly identified with the creation of Denmark as a nation state. The inscription translates thus: "King Harald ordered these kumbls made in memory of Gorm, his father, and in memory of Thyra, his mother; that Harald who won for himself all of Denmark and Norway and made the Danes Christian". Not in Brunet ; Graesse: IV:218 (note); Adams: 731 (erroneously lists three plates).DANSK BESKRIVELSE:Den yderst sjældne originaludgave af dette værk om "De mærværdige Begivenheder, som har fundet Sted i Europa mellem 1586 og 91", i hvilket vi finder den første afbildning af Jellingstenen samt sammes indskrift for første gang på tryk. Værket er således af største betydning for dansk historie og endog af konkret betydning for vor nuværende viden om Jellingstenen og dens placering."1586 endelig blev Jællinge-Runestenene en almindeligere Gjenstand for bevarende og undersøgende Opmærksomhed, hvilket baade var en Frugt af de tidligere Bestræbelser, - der dog ganske vist ikke havde indskrænket sig til blot ovenstaande, som er det nu derom bekjendte - og en Opfordring til mere, og navnlig blev det Anledningen til, at der skete en god Begyndelse med at føre vore Runestenes Indskrifter ind i Litteraturen. Det var Lensmanden paa Koldinghus , den navnkundige Kaspar Markdanner, der har den Fortjeneste at have ført Jællinge-Stenene frem af set Skjul, hvori de, om ikke saa lige glemte, vare hensunkne. Ifølge en i Jællinge Kirke indsat Tavle lod han 1586 den store Runesten "opgrave paa Kirkegaarden" og opsætte. Den mindre Sten nævnes just ej ved den Lejlighed med Hensyn til, hvad Markdanner lod foretage, men Grunden er vistnok, at den ikke var större eller tungere, end at den ikke ved sin egen Vægt kunne være dybt sunket i Jorden, og at den til samme tid har tildraget sig Opmærksomhed. I nogle endnu bevarede samtidige Optegnelser af Ar. Huitfeldt kaldes den, i det dens Indskrift der er blevet optaget, "Stenen ved Kirkedören", og begge Indskrifter, baade den store Stens og den "in parvi lapide", blev strax meddlete i et Skrift, som paa den lærde Henr. Rantzaus Foranstaltning blev udgivet 1591 af P. Lindeborg, angaaende de mærkelige Begivenheder, der havde fundet Sted i Europa 1586-91. Der er forsøgt en Fortolkning af Indskrifterne, og der er tilföjet en vel udført Afbaldning af Höjene med Kirken og Omgivelserne i det hele. Denne er endnu ikke uden Værd, da den viser os en Udstyrelse med omgivende Stene, som tidenikke har bevaret, og navnlig ovenpaa den mindre Höj en meget stor Sten, som udtrykkelig siges ikke at være synderlig mindre end den store Indskrift-Sten... Lindeberg indførte ogsaa ovennævnte Afbildning af Jællinge-Stenene med de nødvendigste didhørende Oplysninger i et Skrift, som han kaldte "Hypotyposisarcium, palatiorum... - dog ikke i sammes 1. Udgave 1591, men da det anden Gang blev trykt..." (P. G. Thorsen, De danske Runemindesmærker, 1864, Bd. 1, pp. 30-32).Ikke nævnt i Thesaurus, som fejlagtigt hævder, at den første afbildning af Jellingstenen forekommer i andenudgaven af samme forfatters "Hypotyposis" fra 1592 (se Thesaurus 216).

Stockholm, Anders J. Nordström, 1783. 8vo. Contemp. hcalf. Raised bands, gilt spine, titlelabel with gilt lettering. A very small nick to foot of spine. XV,766 pp., 9 folded engraved plates, 1 large folded engraved map. A fine clean copy. The scarce first edition (the first part only, but alone-standing) of Sparrman's famous travelling account which has been called the '"most trustworthy account of the Cape Colony and the various races of people then residing in it" that had been published in the 18th century. The work is one of the most important investigations of the South African fauna in the second half of the 18th century. He sailed for the Cape of Good Hope in January 1772 to take up a post as a tutor. When James Cook arrived there later in the year at the start of his second voyage, Sparrman was taken on as assistant naturalist to Johann and Georg Forster. After the voyage he returned to Cape Town in July 1775 and practiced medicine, earning enough to finance a journey into the interior.Du Reitz, Bibliotheca Polynesia, 1218 Mendelssohn 4, p. 360

Erevan, Armenia, Gosizdat, 1936. 8vo. In publisher's original full cloth with title in silver lettering to spine and front board. A picture of Darwin embossed to front board. Hindges weak. "75" in ink to spine and front board. Stamp and a few annotations to title-page, otherwise nice and clean. (2), 765 pp. + frontiespiece and plate with genealogical tree. The exceedingly rare first Armenian translation of Darwin's landmark work.Only two Armenian translations of 'Origin of Species' has been made. The present first a second from 1963, both translations are of the upmost scarcity. Due to the relatively low number of people speaking Armenian (approximately 3 million in Armenia and 7 million outside) books in Armenian were printed in comparatively low numbers. OCLC locates no copies. Freeman 630.R.B. Darwin Online, F630.

Paris, 1903. 8vo. Nice contemporary half calf with raised bands and gilt lettering to spine. Inner hinge a bit weak, but still tight. 3 leaves with a tear, no loss. Otherwise a nice and clean copy. Inscribed by the author to half-title, to the preeminent Russian Byzantinist F.I. Uspenky. (6), II, 399 pp. First edition, first issue, presentation-copy, of the groundbreaking work, in which Metchikoff coins "gerontology" and establishes the field, which today is considered more important than ever, namely the study of the social, psychological and biological aspects of aging.Earlier on, Metchnikoff had made pioneering studies in immunology, and these led him on to the problems of biological ageing. His first work on the subject is the present, in which he coins the term "gerontology" and advances the idea that senile changes result from the toxins produced by bacteria in the intestine. In order to prevent these "unhealthy fermentations", Metchnikoff advocates the inclusion of sour milk on one's diet. As his ideas of "right living" were so closely connected with the consummation of large amounts of fermented milk or yoghurt made with a Bulgarian bacillus, his name actually came to be associated with a popular commercial preparation of yogurt (although he received no royalties). His studies into the potential life-lengthening properties of lactic acid bacteria, inspired Japanese scientist Minoru Shirota to begin investigating the causal relationship between bacteria and good intestinal health, which eventually led to the worldwide marketing of Kefir and other fermented milk drinks or probiotics, still extremely popular today.Apart from the consummation of yoghurt, Metchnikoff warned of eating uncooked foods, claiming that the bacteria present on them could cause cancer. Metchnikoff claimed he even plunged bananas into boiling water after unpeeling them and passed his silverware through flames before using it."In his "Nature of Man" Metchnikoff argued that when diseases have been suppressed and life has been hygienically regulated, death would come only with extreme old age. Death would then be natural, accepted gratefully, and robbed of its terrors." (D.S.B. IX: 334-35).He continued writing on ageing and death until 1910. In 1908 he shared the Nobel Prize for medicine with Ehrlich for his work on immunity.The interesting presentation-inscription reads: "Dorogim Naste I Fedoru/ Ivanovich Uspenskim/ na dobruyu panijat ot Il. Metchnikova." [In Russian, i.e.: For dear Nastya and Fyodor/ Ivanovich Uspenski/ in good memory from Il. Metchnikov." Fyodor Ivanovich Uspensky or Uspenskij (1845-1928) was the preeminent Russian Byzantinist in the first third of the 20th century. His works are considered to be among the finest illustrations of the flowering of Byzantine studies in Tsarist Russia.Uspensky was educated at the University of St. Petersburg, with his first thesis (1872) dedicated to Nicetas Choniates. For two decades (1874-94) he read lectures at the Novorossiysky University in Odessa. This position allowed him to spend considerable time abroad.Uspensky's doctoral thesis (1879) dealt with the foundation of the Second Bulgarian Empire. Although he specialized in the Byzantine-Bulgarian relations and investigated the Slavic influence on the Byzantine economy, Uspensky also researched and wrote extensively on the Crusades.In 1894 Uspensky, who shared Slavophile ideals, decided to move to Constantinople in order to study and protect the surviving monuments of Byzantine antiquity, which had been neglected by the Ottoman authorities for centuries. He founded the Russian Archaeological Institute (headquartered at Studion) and presided over its pioneering archaeological research in Constantinople, Asia Minor, Macedonia and Bulgaria. In 1900, he was elected into the Russian Academy of Sciences. With the outbreak of World War I, Uspensky was forced to abandon his work and flee Turkey.Back in Petrograd, the 70-year-old professor was invited to edit the organ of Byzantine studies, "Vizantiysky Vremennik". After the October Revolution, he delivered lectures at the Leningrad University (1922-27) and, enduring criticism of the Bolshevik authorities, prepared for publication the results of a lifelong study - a monumental three-volume account of the history of the Byzantine Empire.Uspensky died in Leningrad in 1928. The posthumous publication of his magnum opus, based on numerous unpublished sources and unprecedented in scope, demonstrated the wide range of his scholarship. His book about the Trapezuntine Empire also appeared posthumously.

S.-Peterburg, 1864. 8vo. Bound in a beautiful half calf recent pastiche-binding with marbled papers over boards and elegant gilding to spine. End-papers renewed. Stamp to half-title, title-page and first leaf of text. First leaves evenly browned and dampstain to outer margin affecting last 50 ff. A few occassional brownspots throughout. XIV, 399, (1) pp. + 1 plate with genealogical tree (between pp. 92/93). First edition of the first Russian translation of Darwin's "Origin of Species", a main reason for the widespread effect of Darwinism in Russia, where the theory met less resistance in the 1860'ies than it did in Western Europe. In Russia, Darwinism had a profound influence not only upon the different sciences, but also on philosophy, economic and political thought, and the great literature of the period. For instance, both Tolstoy and Dostoevsky referenced Darwin in their most important works, as did numerous other thinkers of the period."In 1864, S.A. Rachinsky, professor of plant physiology at St. Petersburg University, produced the first Russian translation of the "Origin". Although not a masterpiece of translation art, the book sold out so quickly that in 1865 it went through a second printing. By this time Darwin's ideas were discussed not only by scientists but also by such popular writers as Dmitri Pisarev and M. A. Antinovich." (Glick, p. 232). Rachinsky began translating the "Origin" in 1862 and wrote an important article on the theories presented in it, while working on the translation. This article and the translation of the "Origin" into Russian were responsible for the great success and rapid, widespread knowledge of Darwinian theory of evolution in Russia. "Darwin was concerned that the "Origin of Species" reach naturalists across the world, but translations of that complicated work raised problems for Darwin. If he found it difficult to make the reader "understand what is meant" in England and America, at least in those two countries he and the reader were discussing the "Origin of Species" in the same language. Foreign language editions raised not only the thorny question of translating Darwinian terms, but also the problem of translators, who often thought it proper to annotate their editions to explain the "significance" of Darwinism. The first Russian translation of the "Origin of Species" (1864) appeared, however, without any comment whatever by the translator, Sergei A. Rachinsky, professor of botany at the University of Moscow. Rachinsky had begun the translation in 1862 and published an article on Darwinism while continuing work on the translation in 1863." (Rogers, p. 485). In the year of publication of the translation, 1864, Pisarev wrote a long article in "The Russian Word", which purports to be a review of this translation; the critic complains about the absence of notes and commentaries by the translator. Pisarev furthermore points to several errors in the translation and to numerous infelicities of expression. Acknowledging the importance of the work, however, and of the spreading of Darwinism in Russia, he goes on in his own essay to provide a much more popular account of Darwin's theory and to impress upon his readers its revolutionary significance.Nikolai Strakhov also reviewed the translation immediately upon publication, acknowledging the effect it would have. Strakhov, however, recognized potential dangers inherent in the theory and expressed them in his review of Rachinsky's translation. He praised the work for its thoroughness and rejoiced in the evidence that man constituted the highest stage of organic development; but then he went on to argue that by moving into questions of philosophy and theology, the Darwinists were exceeding the limits of scientific evidence. Like Pisarev, Tolstoy enthusiastically embraced Darwinism. "The first mention of Darwin in Tolstoy's literary "Nachlass" is found in one of the drafts to "War and Peace". There Darwin is listed, apparently quite favorably, among leading thinkers "working toward new truth" [...] Thus by the late 1860's the name of Darwin as a leading scientist was already familiar to Tolstoy and duly respected." (McLean, p. 160). A fact which is often overlooked is that Tolstoy actually knew Rachinsky quite well. Interestingly, it was in a letter to Rachinsky, in reply to a question about the structure of "Anna Karenina", that Tolstoy made the famous statement (that all Tolstoy scholars and lovers know by heart): "I am proud of the architecture - the arches are joined in such a way that you cannot discover where the keystone is". Like Strakhov, however, Dostoevsky, acknowledging the significance of the "Origin", saw the dangers of the theory. In the same year as the publication of Rachinsky's translation, he lets the narrator in "Notes from Underground" (1864) launch his attack on Darwinism , beginning: "As soon as they prove you, for instance, that you are descended from a monkey, then it's no use scowling, you just have to accept it."In "Crime and Punishment" (two years later, 1866) the Darwinian overtones inherent in Raskolnikov's theory of the extraordinary man are unmistakable. He describes the mechanism of "natural selection," where, according to the laws of nature, by the crossing of races and types, a "genius" would eventually emerge. In general, Darwinian themes and Darwin's name occur in many contexts in a large number of Dostoevsky's works.Freeman 748. See: James Allen Rogers: The Reception of Darwin's Origin of Species by Russian Scientists. In: Isis, Vol. 64, No. 4 (Dec., 1973), pp. 484-503.Thomas F. Glick: The Comparative Reception of Darwinism. 1974.Hugh McLean: In Quest of Tolstoy. 2008.

St. Petersburg, 1868 [but in fact 1867-1869]. 8vo. In contemporary half calf with renewed spine. Inner hindges with repairs and boards with soiling and a few marks and holes to volume 1. Light foxing throughout, primarily affecting margins and plates. Overall a good copy. IV, 443, (1): ill; V.2: 462, (I)-VI pp. The very first publication of Darwin's 'Variation under Domestication' in any language. The title-page states 1868 but they two volumes were in fact published, respectively in November 1867 and 1869."In August, 1867, Darwin wrote to Lyell that he was visited by a young Russian "who is translating my new book into Russian.". The book was the 'Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication', and the youngRussian was Vladimir Kovalevsky, who subsequently became a well-known evolutionary palaeontologist. At that time the 'Variation' was not yet published, and it seems most probably that the translation was made from a set of proofs given to Kovalevsky by Darwin. Thanks to Kovalevsky's rapid work, the first section of the Russian translation of the Variation was published several months prior to the publication of the English original." (Glick, The Comparative Reception of Darwinism, p. 235)"The first Russian edition, which is dated 1868 on the volume title page, is of particular interest. It is the only work, in his lifetime, of which any part appeared in foreign translation before it appeared in English. Correspondence at Cambridge shows that the translator was sent copies of corrected proofs as they were ready. It was published in seven parts of which four, perhaps to the end of Chapter XV, appeared in 1867; the next two appeared in 1868, and the last not until 1869, because he had been away in Russian Asia. The title is given in full, in English translation, under No. 925 and has been discussed above" (Freeman).Vladimir Kovalevsky (1842-1883), the translator of this book, was a Russian biologist and the founder of evolutionary palaeontology. His own scientific works were printed between 1873 and 1877, and according to Henry Osborn (Osborn, H. The rise of Mammalia in North America // Proc. Amer. Assoc. Sci. 1894. vol. 42, pp. 189-227) they ''dare away'' all traditional and dry European paleontology. That was mainly because Kovalevsky was a devoted Darwinist and adapted Darwin's ideas to palaeontology. Luis Dollo, the Belgian palaeontologist, a contemporary of Kovalevsky's, described him thus: ''No palaeontologist embodies so perfectly our epoch, as the brilliant and miserable Vladimir Kovalevsky, friend and guest of the immortal Charles Darwin''. Indeed, Kovalevsky was a friend of Darwin's and they corresponded extensively. When visiting Darwin in 1877, the Russian botanist, Timiryazev, asked Darwin about his views on Russian science and Darwin surprised him with an answer that Vladimir Kovalevsky (little known at the time) was the bright hope of palaeontology.Kovalevsky was very eager to translate Darwin into Russian as soon as possible so he asked Darwin to send him the proofs of his book chapter by chapter as soon as Darwin finished them. Kovalevsky translated with great speed (the complete book contains 900 pages) and he began to print the chapters from July 1867 (the first English edition appeared on 30th January 1868). The chapters were printed one after another as the translation went on. It is unclear whether any part of it appeared before the English edition.Vladimir Kovalevsky translated another of Darwin's books, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals [O vyrazhenii emotsyi u cheloveka I zhyvotnikh] that appeared the same year as the English edition (1872).Kovalevsky committed suicide at the age of forty after the breakdown of his marriage to the celebrated mathematician, Sophia Kovalevskaya who became the first female professor of mathematics in the world.OCLC finds only three complete copies worldwide (Cornell, American Philosophical Society (US) and Thomas Fisher Library, (Canada)). Freeman 925

Paris, Imprimerie Royale, 1773. 4to. 2 nice contemp. full mottled calf. 5 raised bands. Richly gilt spines, tome-and titlelabels with gilt lettering. Neat repairs to top of spines. Stamps on title-pages. Corners a bit bumped. (4),LXXIX,803;(4),622 pp., 5 folded engraved maps, 1 engraved plate and 5 folded tables. Light browning to a few quires. Lower right corners on the last 3 leaves in volume 1 with a mild foxing. First edition of this splendid work, in which the observations from the testing of Berthaud's marine chronometer were presented for the first time. Fleurieu took part in a one-year sea campaign to test Berthoud's first marine chronometer, in an attempt to beat Britain in the race to find a reliable way to calculate longitude. The chronometers he thus refined with Ferdinand Berthoud for their later experiments, were the object of major struggles with the king's horologer, Pierre Le Roy. Finally, Claret de Fleurieu and Berthoud were entrusted with the task, setting out on the testing expedition from autumn 1768 to 11 October 1769 on the frigate Isis under Fleurieu's command. The chronometers almost invariably indicated the hour as accurately after the ship had left port, as if they were still on land. Knowing the actual local time at each present location by astronomy, they could easily determine the ship's exact position and longitude on a chart. The results of their observations were published in 1773 under the title Voyage fait par ordre du roi, pour éprouver les horloges marines ("Voyage made by order of the king, to test marine chronometers").Sabin, 24750.

Amsterdam, Jacob van Meurs, 1665. Folio. Contemp. full mottled calf. Richly gilt spine. 6 raised bands. Gilt lineborders on covers. Cracking to leather on hinges, externally repaired with thin leather-strips. Corners reinforced. Engraved title-page and printed (in red/black). (10),208,258,(10) pp., Engraved portrait, large folded engraved map, 2 engraved plates with coat of arms, 34 double-page engraved views, 110 large engraved textillustrations. A faint dampstain to upper margin of the last few leaves. The 2 plates with coat of arms a bit frayed in right margins and a faint dampstain in upper margin. A bit of browning to the first 5 leaves. otherwise internally clean. First edition of Nieuhof's famous travel round China, a trip of 2,400 km from Canton to Peking, in 1655-1657, which enabled him to become an authoritative Western writer on China. He wrote this "An embassy from the East-India Company", the written account of this journey which he undertook for the Dutch-Indian Compagny. He deals with nearly all aspects of Chinese life, folklore, religion, crafts, topography, architecture, zoology, geography, geology etc. etc. The work is one of the first illustrated books to describe China, and it profoundly influenced the Western view on China.Brunet IV, 77. - Cordier, 2344.

Christiania, Chr. Gröndahl, 1835-64. 4to. Indbundet i 6 senere hshirtbd. (Hefte 6 afvigende indbundet) med rygforgyldning, alle med det originale blå blanke foromslag. Stempel på titelbladene. Velbevarede eksemplarer. Disse kortbeskrivelser er forløberne for "Den Norske Los". Omfatter: 1. Fra Haltenöe til Leköe. 1835. VIII,18 pp. - 2. Fra Leköe til Dönnaesöe. 1836. 19 pp. - 3. Fra D¨nnarsöe til Fleina og Sandhornet. 1837. 18 pp. - 4. Fra Fleina og Sandhornet til Tranö med den sydlige Deel af Lofoten... 1839. 27 pp. samt 1 foldeplanche (landtoninger). - 5. Fra Tranö til Gisund. 1841. 28 pp. samt 1 foldeplanche (landtoninger). - 6. Fra Andö til Gisund. 1842. 23 pp. samt foldeplanche (landtoninger). - 7. Fra Kvalö og Grötsund til Söröen. 1844. 19 pp. samt foldeplanche (landtoninger). - 8. Fra Söröen til Nordkap. 1845. 14 pp. samt foldeplanche (landtoninger). - 9. Fra Nordkap til Tanahorn. 1847. 11 pp. - 10. Fra Tanahorn til grændsen mod Russisk Lapland. 1848. 11 pp. - 11a. Fra Christiania til Tönsberg, Torgersö Fyr og Rauö. 1852. 17 pp. - 11b. Fra Rauö til Idefjorden med den tilgrændsende Kyst. 1852. 14 pp. samt foldeplanche (landtoninger). - 11c. Fra Tönsberg og Torgersö Fyr til Jomfruland. 1853. 23 pp. samt foldeplanche (landtoninger). - 12a. Fra Jomfruland og Kragerö til Arendal. 1855. 36 pp. samt foldeplanche (landtoninger). - 12b. Fra Arendal til Christiansand. 1856. 67 pp. samt foldeplanche (landtoninger). - 13a. Fra Christiansand til Lindesnæs. 1857. 57 pp. samt foldeplanche (landtoninger). - 13b. Fra Ekersund til Lindesnæs. 1858. 36 pp. samt foldeplanche (landtoninger). - 14a. Fra Hvidingsö og Stavanger til Ekersund. 1860. 66 pp. samt 2 foldeplancher (landtoninger). - 14b. Fra Espevær ved Bömmelö til Hvidingsö og Byfjorden ved Stavanger. 1863. 126 pp. samt foldeplanche (landtoninger). - 15. Fra Espevær ved Bommelö til Korsfjord. 1864. 56 pp. samt foldeplanche (landtoninger).

Tokyo, Nishimura Tomijiro, Fukuda Eizo, Meiji 21 [1881]. 8vo. In the original cloth binding with printed front board (depicting a monkey reading a newspaper). Light wear and soiling to extremities and end papers soiled, otherwise in fine condition. 285 pp. + 3 plates. The rare first Japanese translation of W. P. Lyon's anti-evolutionary text ' Homo versus Darwin'. It constitutes the very first publication in Japanese to reject Darwin's theory. A year after the publication, the book was banned for 'corrupting public morals'.The present work is Lyon's reply to the publication of Darwin's The Descent of Man. Here, he sees Darwin being charged by Homo of denying him from being a creature made by a God and declaring man to be merely some kind of animal. The author is recorded as being 'Eisa Gurei' [Asa Gray], but in 1986 a study confirmed the text to be a translation of Lyon's work.'Saru no Saiban' is an important work in the history of the reception of Darwinism in Japan. 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 biologists and zoologists. "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).

Napoli, Apud Iosephum Cacchium, 1570. 4to. Bound in 18th century marbled boards. Completely fresh and clean copy. Two small marginal holes to last two leaves, far from affecting text. Good, wide margins. Telesio's woodcut title-device (a beatiful naked woman, all alone, far from the troubles of the world, illuminated by the sun, surrounded by a border carrying the saying in Greek: "mona moi fila" - presumably depicting the goddess of Truth), and 11 lovely, illustrated woodcut initials. 12 ff. The rare first edition of one of Telesio's smaller scientific treatises, his treatise on the sea, which was based on purely empirical knowledge. The work constitutes a corrective to Aristotle and a continuation of his magnum opus on the things of nature, the important second edition of which was printed in the same year, also by Cacchium. The empiricism that Telesio propounds in his novel, empirically based scientific treatises, like the "De Mare", caused him to be to be considered "the first of the moderns" (Francis Bacon),"Bernardino Telesio (1509-1588) belongs to a group of independent philosophers of the late Renaissance who left the universities in order to develop philosophical and scientific ideas beyond the restrictions of the Aristotelian-scholastic tradition. Authors in the early modern period referred to these philosophers as 'novateurs' and 'modern'. In contrast to his successors Patrizzi and Campanella, Telesio was a fervent critic of metaphysics and insisted on a purely empiricist approach in natural philosophy-he thus became a forerunner of early modern empiricism. He had a remarkable influence on Tommaso Campanella, Giordano Bruno, Pierre Gassendi, Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes and authors of the clandestine Enlightenment like Guillaume Lamy and Giulio Cesare Vanini." (SEP).Telesio was born in Cosenza "and in a sense he opens the long line of philosophers through which the South of Italy has asserted its Greek heritage, a line that links him with Bruno and Campanella, with Vico in the eighteenth century, and with Croce and Gentile in our own time." (Kristeller, Eight Philosophers, p. 97). He was educated by his uncle, the humanist Antonio Telesio, in Milan and Rome, and he studied philosophy and mathematics at the university of Padua, where he got his doctorate in 1535. He had a great respect for the famous Aristotelian Vicenzo Maggi, with whom he discussed his magnum opus, obtaining his approval before publishing the seminal second version of it in 1570. He was closely connected not only with Maggi, but also with the other leaders of the most intelligent and official Aristotelianism of his age. But Telesio opposes the Aristotelianism of both his own and earlier times, claiming that they all erected arbitrary systems that consisted of a strange mixture of reason and experience. They created their systems without consulting nature, and thus they merely obtained arbitrary ideas of the world. What separates Telesio and his contemporaries from the great Renaissance thinkers that had gone ahead is not merely the passing of a few decades, but the emergence of a completely different intellectual atmosphere. "The tradition of medieval thought, which was still felt very strongly in the fifteenth century and even at the beginning of the sixteenth, began to recede into the more distant background, and it was now the tbroad thought and learning of the early Renaissance itself which constituted the tradition by which the new generations of thinkers were shaped, and against which their immediate reactions were directed." (Kristeller, Eight Philosophers, p. 91). Telesio belongs to a group of thinkers that we call the Renaissance philosophers of nature. They are considered a group by themselves, different from the humanists, Platonists, and Aristotelians that we usually group other Renaissance thinkers into. What distinguished these philosophers of nature, however, was not a different subject matter from that of the Aristotelians and the Platonists (of both contemporary and earlier times), but their clear claim to explore the principles of nature in an original and independent way, tearing themselves loose of an established tradition and authority that kept them in binds. They formulated novel theories andfreed themselves from the ancient philosophical authorities, especially Aristotle, who had dominated philosophical speculation, not least natural philosophy, for centuries. Telesio, of course, did not stand alone in this group of bold, original thinkers that we call the Renaissance philosophers of nature, and whose quest it was to make new discoveries and to attain knowledge unaccessible to the ancients, it also included for instance Fracastoro, Cardano, Paracelsus, and Bruno. But Telesio in particular protrudes, as his thought is distinguished by such clarity and coherence, and his ideas anticipate important aspects of later philosophy and science. "Telesio dedicated his whole life to establishing a new kind of natural philosophy, which can be described as an early defense of empiricism bound together with a rigorous criticism of Aristotelian natural philosophy and Galenic physiology. Telesio blamed both Aristotle and Galen for relying on elaborate reasoning rather than sense perception and empirical research. His fervent attacks against the greatest authorities of the Western philosophical and medical traditions led Francis Bacon to speak of him as "the first of the moderns" (Opera omnia vol. III, 1963, p. 114). He was perhaps the most strident critic of metaphysics in late Renaissance times. It was obviously due to his excellent relationships with popes and clerics that he was not persecuted and was able during his own lifetime to publish his rather heterodox writings, which went on the index shortly after his death." (SEP)."Giordano Bruno speaks of the "giudiciosissimo Telesio" in the third dialog of "De la causa", whilst Francis Bacon based his own speculative philosophy of nature on a blend of Telesian and Paracelsian conceptions (Giachetti Assenza 1980; Rees 1977; 1984). Thomas Hobbes followed Telesio in the rejection of species (Schuhmann 1990; Leijenhorst 1998, p. 116ff.) The physiology of René Descartes in "De homine" shows close similarities to Telesio's physiological theories as they are presented in "De natura rerum" (Hatfield 1992). Telesio also had some influence on Gassendi and on libertine thinkers (Bianchi 1992)." (SEP).Adams: T:291.

Paris, Tresse & Stock, 1892. Small 8vo. Original printed red wrappers. A few tears and nicks to extremities. The extremely fragile spine miraculously preserved, very neatly restored. A very fine, completely uncut copy. XV, (1), 297, (1) pp. + (1, contents) f. The very rare first edition of Kropotkin's main work, "The Conquest of Bread", the great constructivist work of the libertarian tradition and the greatest modern work of anarchism. By 1880, Kropotkin had broken with the Bakunist idea of remuneration for labour in the post-revolutionary society. While Bakunin and the Federalist wing of the First International suggested a period of economic transition between Capitalism and Libertarian Communism, Kropotkin believed it necessary to leap from one to the other, from day one of the revolution. Any retention of the wages system in whatever form, such as labour cheques or time coupons, would only result in further exploitation and injustice. The revolution has to consist in the belief that all things are the common inheritance of humanity and should also be held in common; therefore, Kropotkin states in his magnum opus, collectivists merely tinker with the wages system in stead of destroying it, and the only way forward is to get rid of it completely. Kroptkin's groundbreaking "The Conquest of Bread" constitutes a work of anarcho-communist economics and history rather than a mere text book on revolutionary organization. "[I]n "The Conquest of Bread", [h]e doesn't seem to see anarchism as a political ideology on a par with, say Marxism, but rather he sees it as a constantly present tendency within human groups. Anarchism, then, is more of an anthropological category than a political one for Kropotkin... He highlights events from the French revolution where associations of labourers sprang up to till the soil together. He looks at aspects of Russian and Swiss peasant communal land use as well as the English lifeboat crews who voluntarily aid seamen in distress. This is where Kropotkin's real worth is - in the field of history and ethics. Of course some of his historical conclusions can be criticised: medieval cities were not as democratic and peaceful as he would have us believe. But he did illuminate an aspect of human history which had been completely neglected. Academics of the nineteenth century were heavily under the influence of neo-Darwinist ideas which sought to justify both capitalism and imperialism. Kropotkin was one of the very first to attempt to refute the 'survival of the fittest' idea. The basic point that humanity has made most progress under conditions of co-operation runs through the length and breadth of "The Conquest of Bread".The book contains much of interest for present day libertarians. Kropotkin touches on "integral education", agricultural production in cities, international trade, the decentralisation of industry and much else of importance currently. It is, to reiterate, one of the great constructivist anarchist works". (Gary Heyter, A Review of Kropotkin's "The Conquest of Bread"). Prince Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (1842 -1921) was a Russian activist, scientist, and philosopher, who advocated decentralized government and anarchism. Kropotkin was a proponent of a communist society free from central government and based on voluntary associations between workers. He wrote many books, pamphlets and articles, the most prominent being his groundbreaking "The Conquest of Bread" from 1892. He also contributed the article on anarchism to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition."The Conquest Of Bread" first appeared in Paris in 1892, after having been serialized in the anarchist journals "La Révolté" and "Le Révolte". After the appearance of the book, it became extremely influential and was serialized again, though only in part, between 1892 and 1894 in the London journal "Freedom". It quickly reached an extremely large audience and was translated an reprinted numerous times. It was translated into Norwegian already in 1898, and in Japanese in 1909."The Conquest of bread" came to play an enormous role in the modern development of anarchism and is the most significant modern work of the libertarian tradition.

Berlin, S. Fischer Verlag, 1912. Royal 8vo. Volumes 1 and 2 (i.e. the entire year) of "Die neue Rundschau, 1912" present, in the original half vellum bindings with gilt title to spines, top edge gilt. In remarkably fine condition, with just a bit of soiling to spines and a small crack to upper hinges of volume 1 ("Der Tod in Venedig" is in vol. 2). Small stamp in Hebrew to front boards and to title-pages. Large engraved book plates ("E. Schwabach-Märzdorff") to inside of front boards and to front free end-papers. A very nice and clean set. The true first printing of Thomas Mann's masterpiece, "The Death in Venice". Contrary to what is generally believed, the actual first appearance of "The Death in Venice" was not the extremely scarce de luxe-edition that appeared in 100 numbered copies in 1912. In fact the work originally appeared (and in its entirety) in the October and November issues (i.e. in the second volume, on pp. 1368-1398 + 1499-1526) of "Die Neue Rundschau", 1912. Simultaneusly with this first appearance, Poeschel und Trepte in Leipzig were preparing the luxury edition of the work for Hans von Weber's Hyperionverlag in Munich, as one of his "Hundertdrucke". Probably due to the controversial theme of the work, Thomas Mann was hesitant to immediately handing over the manuscript to his regular publisher S. Fisher for him to publish it directly and had settled on the bibliophile edition already before finishing the work. He did give Fischer the work to publish, though, and thus it came to appear both in Fischer's "Neue Rundschau", over two months, and with Weber's Hyperionverlag. While the first part of the work was being published in "Die neue Rundschau", the luxury edition was being prepared, and in the end, the luxury edition was only issued (shortly) after the second and final part had appeared in "Die neue Rundschau" in November 1912. Shortly after the famous luxury edition, in 1913, Fischer published the first trade edition in book form. By 1924, 50.000 copies of the work had appeared in this form. Thomas Mann's disturbing masterpiece, probably the most famous story of obsession ever written, is considered one of the most important literary productions of the 20th century.

Lugduni [Lyon], Apud Ioannem Thioly, 1670. 8vo. Contemporary half calf with simple gilding to spine. Gilt title-label to spine partly missing. Four tiny worm-holes to upper front hinge, just touching front free end-papers and nothing else. Minor edge-wear, but a nice, clean, and tight binding. Ex-libris stamps to title-page (one being R.D.-E. Gelin's, the other unlegible but probably a theological library). Mostly very faint marginal dampstaining to lower margin thorughout, not touching text. Neat old owner's name to inside of front board (Soldner). Without the two blank leaves between the end of the dedication and the beginning of the text (there is clearly no leaf with any text lacking; there is either a pagination-error, or there has been one or two blank leaves between the end of the dedication and the beginning of the work. In the other copies that we have been able to find collations of, there has been no leaf a4 nor A1 either - there is no doubt that the text is complete), and without the blank leaf after the end of Part One, but with two blanks at the end of Part Two. (8) pp., pp. 3-302; 140 pp. + two blank leaves. Etremely scarce first edition of Jacques de Billy's mathematical magnum opus, known primarily as "Diophantus Redivivus" (i.e. "Diophantus Restored"), in which he gives some of the most important solutions to Diophantine problems, of which he was an expert. The work is highly important within the field of number theory and counts as one of the greatest testimonies to the early development of this branch of mathematics. The copy has belonged to the famous mathematician Johann Georg von Soldner (of the Soldner coordinate system). It was partly due to the rediscovery of Diophantus in the 16th century that Fermat reached his famous "last theorem" in the middle of the 17th century, when reading Diphantus' "Arithmetica" and engaging himself with the problems presented here. Jacques de Billy (1602-1679), a French Jesuit, who taught mathematics and theology and received the first professorship of mathematics at the Collège de Dijon, was highly interested in the problems that Diophantus had presented in his famous work, and some time before 1659, an active correspondence began between himself and Fermat, which led to, among other things, the his important "Diophantus Redivivus". The work includes many of Fermat's discoveries within the field as well as Billy's own take on them.Before a professorship of mathematics had been created at the Collège de Dijon, the mathematical enthusiast Jacques de Billy was master of studies and professor of theology. His love for mathematics meant, however, that he taught the students privately, and one of the most eager students that he thus privately taught was Jacques Ozanan, in whom Billy instilled a profound love for calculus.The only auction-records that we have been able to locate of the present work are that of Macclesfield (2004) and that of Honeyman (1978), both of which are without leaves between a3 and A2, thus lacking these two blanks (if they have ever been there). The Macclesfield-copy has the blank leaf after Part One and the two final blanks at the end of Part Two, but not the other (possible) blanks. The Honeyman-copy lacks all blank leaves, but only these, it seems.Brunet I: 946, stating "Recherché et rare" (collation: 302 et 140 pp.). Not in Poggendorf, not in Graesse.The previous owner Johann Georg von Soldner (1776-1833) was a famous German physicist, mathematician and astronomer, early on renowned for his great talent for mathematics (though almost completely self-taught). The Soldner coordinate system, which was in use until the middle of the 20th century in Germany, was named after him, as was the Ramaunajan-Soldner constant, but today he is probably primarily remembered for the final conclusion of light being diverted by heavenly bodies. It was Soldner that Einstein was accused of plagiarizing, when he calculated and published a value for the amount of gravitational light-bending in light skimming the Sun in 1911."Soldner was simple and reserved in manner, and he valued ral scholarship for its own sake. His painstaiking observational work on the detection of motion among fixed stars could be of value only to future generations of astronomers and illustrates the unselfish spirit of his work. His writings are clear and concise, and he avoided repetionon of what was already common knowledge." (D.S.B. XII:518).

Moscow, Izdanie Vladimira Bonch-Bruevicha, 1896. 8vo. In a later modest black half calf binding with marbled boards. Traces of stamp to verso of front and back board. Title-page slightly rubbed. Occassional underlignings in text and margins. Pp. 145-146 reinforced in margin. Otherwise a fine copy. XII, (4), (1)-160 pp. Exceedingly rare first Russian translation of this groundbreaking work, in which Marx first presents his revolutionizing theories of capitalism. For years, the present work was largely overshadowed by ‘Das Kapital’, and despite being published 8 years earlier (The original being published in 1859, ‘Das Kapital’ in 1867), the present work was not translated, until ‘Das Kapital’ had made Marx a household name in socialist and revolutionary circles, making the present translation comparatively early (the first English translation being from 1904).The Russian censorship cut Marx’ preface in this first translation - the full text did not appear until the revolutionary decade of 1905-1917. This Manuilov/Rumiantsev-translation remained the canonic-translation throughout the Soviet rule. The translation was made by Bolshevik revolutionary Petr Rumiantsev (1870-1924), who left the party in 1907 and emigrated in 1918, but the success of the present translation is primarily due to editor Manuilov. Editor Alexander Appolonovich Manuilov (1861-1929) was a Russian economist and politician, famous not only as one of the founding members of the Constitutional Democratic party (known as the Kadets), but also as the Russian translator of the present work. "Manuilov graduated from the law department of the University of Novorossiia (Odessa, 1883). He began scholarly and pedagogical work in political economy in 1888. In 1901 he became head of a subdepartment at Moscow University, becoming assistant rector in 1905 and serving as rector from 1908 to 1911. He was dismissed by the tsarist government for attacking the "extremes" of Stolypin's agrarian legislation. In the 1890's he was a liberal Narodnik (Populist), later becoming a Constitutional Democrat (Cadet) and a member of the Central Committee of the Cadet Party. Manuilov's draft on agrarian reform (1905) was the basis for the Cadets' agrarian program. V. I. Lenin sharply criticized Manuilov, calling him one of "the bourgeois liberal friends of the muzhik who desire the 'extension of peasant land ownership' but do not wish to offend the landlords" (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 11, p. 126, note)."At the beginning of his scholarly career Manuilov accepted the labor theory of value. In 1896 he translated K. Marx' work A Contribution to the Criticism of Political Economy (Zur Kritik der Politischen Oekonomie). During the years of reaction he espoused subjectivist and psychological views in political economy. In 1917 he was minister of education of the Provisional Government. After the October Revolution in 1917 he emigrated but soon returned and cooperated with Soviet power. He participated in the orthographic reform (1918). In 1924 he became a member of the board of Gosbank (State Bank). He taught in higher educational institutions. Changing to Marxist positions and relying on Lenin's works, he criticized the revisionists and neo-Narodniks on the agrarian question." (Encycl. Britt.). For many years, the exclusive focus on "Das Kapital" meant that the "Kritik" was overlooked. Since the beginning of the 1960's, however, scholars have become increasingly aware of its importance as the blueprint for the social and economic theory Marx shall go on to develop (see for example Raymond Aron, "Le Marxisme de Marx", 1962). It is here that Marx outlines the research programme to which he shall devote the rest of his working life. He himself described "Das Kapital" as a continuation of his "Zur Kritik der politischen Oekonomie" (see e.g. PMM 359), in which his primary concern is an examination of capital and in which he provides the theoretical foundation for his political conclusions later presented in "Das Kapital". "I examine the system of bourgeois economy in the following order: capital, landed property, wage-labour; the State, foreign trade, world market. The economic conditions of existence of the three great classes into which modern bourgeois society is divided are analysed under the first three headings; the interconnection of the other three headings is self-evident. The first part of the first book, dealing with Capital, comprises the following chapters: 1. The commodity, 2. Money or simple circulation; 3. Capital in general. The present part consists of the first two chapters." (Preface to the present work, in the translation (by S.W. Ryazanskaya) of the Progress Publishers-edition, Moscow, 1977). Apart from the obvious importance of the work as the foundational precursor to what is probably the greatest revolutionary work of the nineteenth century, the "Kritik" is of the utmost importance in the history of political and economic thought, as it is here, in the preface, that Marx outlines his classic formulation of historical materialism. This preface contains the first connected account of what constitutes one of Marx's most important and influential theories, namely the economic interpretation of history - the idea that economic factors condition the politics and ideologies that are possible in a society. "The first work which I undertook to dispel the doubts assailing me was a critical re-examination of the Hegelian philosophy of law; the introduction to this work being published in the Deutsch-Franzosische Jahrbucher issued in Paris in 1844. My inquiry led me to the conclusion that neither legal relations nor political forms could be comprehended whether by themselves or on the basis of a so-called general development of the human mind, but that on the contrary they originate in the material conditions of life, the totality of which Hegel, following the example of English and French thinkers of the eighteenth century, embraces within the term "civil society"; that the anatomy of this civil society, however, has to be sought in political economy. The study of this, which I began in Paris, I continued in Brussels, where I moved owing to an expulsion order issued by M. Guizot. The general conclusion at which I arrived and which, once reached, became the guiding principle of my studies can be summarised as follows. In the social production of their existence, men inevitably enter into definite relations, which are independent of their will, namely relations of production appropriate to a given stage in the development of their material forces of production. The totality of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation, on which arises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness. The mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness. At a certain stage of development, the material productive forces of society come into conflict with the existing relations of production or - this merely expresses the same thing in legal terms - with the property relations within the framework of which they have operated hitherto. From forms of development of the productive forces these relations turn into their fetters. Then begins an era of social revolution. The changes in the economic foundation lead sooner or later to the transformation of the whole immense superstructure." (Preface to the present work, in the translation (by S.W. Ryazanskaya) of the Progress Publishers-edition, Moscow, 1977). OCLC lists merely three copies, all in the US (Havard, Wisconsin, and Hoover Institute on War).

Venetiis, In Officina Valgrisiana, 1559. Folio. (31,5x22,5 cm) Contemporary full Italian vellum. (100),776 pp. + Apologia (having its own title page) 46,(1) pp. Printers woodcut-device at both titles and on last leaf verso. With more than 700 fine wood-cuts in the text (of animals and plants). Light browning to title page, 2 corners repaired, no loss of text, 6 last leaves strengthened in outer margins, no loss of text. A few scattered brown spots and a few marginal notes. In general fine and clean, printed on good paper. Old name on title, Wolffgangus Hendl, 1564 P.V.Q. Scarce third Latin edition of this, the most famous commentary on the Materia Medica of Dioscorides, having here also the text of Dioscorides, who was the originator of the Materia Medica of antiquity. The first edition was printed 1554 and it had fewer and smaller illustrations in the text. "The use of illustrations to aid in describing and identifying plants was taken up enthusiastically by the Italian botanists. Ghini himself planned an illustrated work which was not carried out, but he helped and encouraged Mattioli to proceed with his Commentarii in VI Dioscoridis Libros which appeared with over 500 mostly excellent figures only a dozen years after Fuchs, and a few years later was reissued with some 1200 figures...his commentaries on Dioscorides became practically a general flora: they were immensely popular in Europe because of their mostly excellent illustrations, and many edition were published in Latin, Italian, German and Czech." (A.G. Morton). In Germany it was published under the title "New Kräuterbuch" and according to Sarton, Mattioli became a magnet of botanical information. - Pritzel 1559. - Choulant p. 80 - Nissen BBI: 1305.

Lugd. Batav. (Leiden), 1683 & Lugd. Batav. (Leiden), 1683. 12mo. Bound in one cont. full vellum. Title in old hand on back. De Musculis: (4), 111 pp. and 1 folded engraved plate with 4 figs. - Observationes Anatomicæ: (12), 108 pp. and 3 folded engraved plates. Light scattered brownspots, but good copies. Two very scarce works by Steensen describing his exceptional discoveries relating to the Ducts, the Glands and the mechanics of Muscles."De Musculis..." is the Leiden issue, the third publication and the second printed outside Denmark. The first edition was published in Copenhagen in 1664. The work, which is divided into two parts, contains Steensen's famous investigations on the anatomy and physiology of the different types of muscles, in which he classifies them according to fibres and fibre-functions, and concludes that the heart is a muscle with automatic movement, totally against classical and contemporary authorities. The second part deals with the Ducts and Glands giving a survey of his earlier findings, such as Stensen's Duct, which gave rise to the controversy about priority with Blasius. And then he published a long row of new discoveries on the lymphatic glands, in reality he here lists 11 new discoveries. "In this work (De Musculis et Glandulis) Steno laid the foundation of our present conception of muscular mechanics. He "at once grasped the significance of the fibrillar structure of skeletal muscle and realised that the tensile forces developed in each individual fibra became summated into the response of the muscle as a whole" (Fulton). He proved the muscular nature of the heart." (Garrison & Morton)."Observationes Anatomicæ" is the second printing, the first issued 1662, and it contains Stensen's famous findings from his first year in Leiden of the 3 main Ducts, among these the first account of the excretory duct of the parotid gland "STENSEN'S DUCT". The work is divided into 4 parts and describes the findings of the ducts and glands of the eye, the mouth and the nose.Waller Nos 9219 & 9227 - Osler Nos 4020 & 4018 (1662 ed.) - Gosch III: Stensen 4:2 & 2:1 - Garrison & Morton Nos 576 (1664) & 973 (1662).

Berlin und Stettin, Friedrich Nicolai, 1789-1805. Bound in 19 uniform contemp. hcalf. Gilt spines. Tome- and titlelabels with gilt lettering. Light wear to top of spine on 2 volumes. A paperlabel pasted on upper compartments. Stamps on title-pages. Complete with 241 folded engraved plates. In general fine and clean. A few minor brownspots. Scattered brownspots to volume 19/20. The work deals mainly with the natural sciences, physics, chemistry, mathematics, optics, technology etc. etc.Poggendorff II,1320.

London, New York, Melbourne (printed in Great Britain), Published on behalf of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, (1943). 8vo. Stapled as issued. Title-page printed in red. Stapels with rust, slightly affecting surrounding paper. A very fine, near mint, copy. 16 pp. The scarce first printing of this hugely important publication, which constitutes one of the very first official reports on Holocaust and one of the most accurate accounts that had been presented to the West, changing their knowledge of what was actually going on. This seminal pamphlet consists of 1) Raczynski's account of the ongoing Holocaust, based among other reports, on the eye-witness-report by Jan Karski, a Polish Government emissary in occupied Poland, who bribed his way into a German concentration camp and witnessed the mass extermination of Jews, 2) the seminal "Joint Declaration" by members of the United Nations, in which "The above-mentioned Govenments and the French National Committee condemn in the strongest possible terms this bestial policy of cold-blooded extermination. They declare that such events can only strengthen the resolve of all free-loving peoples to overthrow the barbarous Hitlerite tyranny. They reaffirm their solems resolution to ensure that those responsible for these crimes shall not escape retribution, and to press on with the necessary practical measures to this end." (p. 12), 3) an extract of Deputy Prime Minister Mikolajczy's statement on behalf of the Polish Government, and 4) the text of Raczynski's broadcast of December 1942, in which pleaded for action, wishing to make the public and the Allied nations "understand how real is the tragedy which is taking place not so very far from the shores of this island, on the continet of Europe - on the soil of Poland. For more than three years the Germans have consistently done everything they could to hide from the eyes of the world the martyrdom of the Polish nation, the like of which has never been known in the history of humanity. But "when we would keep silence the very stones will cry out"." (p. 15). While the details were neither complete nor wholly accurate, the Allies were aware of most of what the Germans had done to the Jews at a relatively early date. The mass murder of the Jews was of such dimensions, however, that, at first, they could not believe the reports that reached them. This quickly changed, though. In February of 1942 Jacob Grojanowski, an escaped prisoner of the Chelmno extermination camp, provided the Oneg Shabbat group with detailed information about what went on at the Chelmno camp. His report became known as the Grojanowski Report. It was smuggled out of the Warsaw Ghetto via the Polish underground and reached London in June of 1942. It is not known exactly what happened to the report at that point, but by February of 1942, the United States Office of War Information had decided not to release information about the extermination of Jews (thinking that there was a risk of the public viewing the war as only being a Jewish problem). Thus, the Grojanowski Report was not released. By at least October of 1942 British radio had broadcast news of the gassing of Jews to the Netherlands, and in December 1942, the Western Allies released their Joint Declaration [which is printed in the present publication], describing and condemning in the strongest manner Hitler's violent attempts at exterminating the Jews of Europe. In 1942 Jan Karski (1914-2000), a Polish World War II resistance movement fighter and later professor at Georgetown University gave his first report to the Polish, British, and U.S. governments on what was going on in the German extermination camps in Poland.Karski reported to the Polish government in exile (i.e. Raczynski, who was the Ambassador and one of its most prominent leaders) and the Western Allies on the situation in German-occupied Poland. Karski personally met with Franklin Roosevelt and British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden to explain what went on in Poland, and Raczynski wrote up the report. Eventually, the American Government confirmed the reports to Jewish leaders in late November 1942, and shortly thereafter they were publicized [i.e. in the present publication]. Karski's report (through Raczynski) became one of the most important reports in the history of the Holocaust, being a major factor in informing the West. It sparked one of the first official publications from the Allies on the mass extermination of Jews in Poland and resulted in the official reports and condemnations from the Allied countries, i.e. the "Joint Declaration" [also published here]. "The purpose of this publication is to make public the contents of the Note of December 10th, 1942, addresses by the Polish Government to the Governments of the United Nations concerning the mass extermination of Jews in the Polish territories occupied by Germany, and also other documents treating on the same subject. [...] In the hope that the civilized worlds will draw the appropriate conclusions, the Polish Government desire to bring to the notice of the public, by means of the present White Paper, these renewed German efforts at mass extermination, with the employment of fresh horrifying methods." (From the Introductory Note, p. 3). "Most recent reports present a horrifying picture of the position to which the Jews in Poland have been reduced. The new methods of mass slaughter applied during the last few months confirm the fact that the German autorities aim with systematic deliberation at the total extermination of the Jewsih population of Poland and of the many thousands of Jews whom the German authorities have deported to Poland from Western and Central European countries and from the German Reich itself.The Polish Government consider it their duty to bring to the knowledge of the governments of all civilized countries the following fully authentical information received from Poland during recent weeks, which indicates all too plainly the new methods of extermination adopted by the German authorities." (p. 4).

Kiøbenhaffn, (Andreas Gutterwitz og Hans Stockelmann), 1576. Folio. (27 x 19 cm.). Senere velbevaret hellæderbind i flammet kalv fra omkring 1850. Ryg med svagt ophøjede ægte bind, smalle forgyldte borter langs bindene. Forgyldt rygtitel: HUUSPOSTIL. Eksemplaret er næsten komplet, idet der kun mangler titelbladet til 1. del og det sidste blanke blad. Del.1: 13 (af 14) unummererede blade + 214 nummererede blade. Del 2: 234 nummererede + 13 unummererede. Med talrige monumentale halvsides træsnit i teksten illustrerende Jesu levnedsløb, hvis kunstner indtil for nylig var uidentificeret. (Se noten neden for). Nogle fejlpagineringer i begge Dele. 2 signaturer (læg) ombyttede (i 1. Del og i registeret). Trykt på svært papir og med lettere brugsspor, mest blandt de første blade i 1. Del. Ca. 20 blade omkantede, ca. 15 blade kantforstærkede i højre margin, 3 blade reparerede med teksttab. Enkelte blade reparerede i kanter med tab af bogstaver i marginalierne. Kolofonbladet repareret i alle kanter, men uden tab af tekst. Enkelte blade med svage skjolder og brunpletter. Et læg i registeret løsnet. Alt i alt et usædvanligt velbevaret eksemplar af dette monumentalværk i dansk teologisk litteratur. Folio. (27 x 19 cm.). Later well preserved full mottled calf binding from ca 1850. Slightly raised real bands to spine, slim gilt borders along the bands. Gilt title to spine. The copy is nearly complete, as its is only lacking the title-page for part 1 and the final blank. Part 1: 13 (of 14) unnumbered leaves + 214 numbered laeves. Part II: 234 numbered leaves + 13 unnumbered leaves. Some paginational errors in both parts. Two quires have been swapped (in part 1 and the index). With numerous half-page woodcuts in the text depicting the life of Jesus. Until recently, the artist had remained unidentified (please see note below for clarification). Printed on thick, heavy paper. Signs of use, mostly to the first leaves of part 1. Ca 20 leaves re-margined, and ca 15 leaves re-inforced at outer margin. Three leaves repaired with loss of text. A few leaves restores at edges with marginal loss of lettering. All edges of colophon repaired, but no loss of text. A few leaves with light damp staining and brownspotting. One quire of the index loose. All in all an unusually well preserved copy of this extremely rare monument of Danish theology. Den uhyre sjældne første danske udgave af Hemmingsens Postil, ja faktisk findes kun 2 komplette eksemplarer på private hænder, nemlig det som var ejet af Tore Virgin indtil 1947 og et eksemplar som for nogle år siden dukkede op i Frankrig, og som nu er i en dansk privatsamling. Lauritz Nielsen anfører, at der alene er registreret 4 komplette eksemplarer i offentlige biblioteker (KB, Linköping, Stifts-og Landsbibliotek, Karen Brahe, Odense og Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel). Universitetsbibliotekets eksemplar er defekt, ligesom KB ejer 3 defekte eksemplarer ud over det komplette, som alle 3 er med mange mangler.Postillen udkom først på Latin i 1561 og blev fortsat med ialt 16 Latinske udgaver - alle i 8vo-, og om alle kan man vist sige, at de er af største sjældenhed. Carl S. Petersen kalder Niels Hemmingsen "den største teologiske Videnskabsmand, der har levet i vor Fædreland", og som elev af Melancton må han nok betegnes som den mest betydelige tænker i Reformationstidens Danmark og Norge. Hans Postil er ikke egentlige prædikener, "men dispositioner til saadanne, udarbejdede med det formål at tvinge præsten til alvorlig gennemtænkning af den hellige Text". Samtiden tildelte ham navnet "Danmarks almindelige Lærer". AN ILLUSTRATIONERNE: En dansk bogsamler og ekspert på danske 1500-tals tryk (Jørgen Jark) har bidraget til opklaringen af de monumentale illustrationers ophav. Han anfører, at signaturen CE (i Thesaurus og Birkelund fejllæst som CF) - ifølge Nagler "Die Monogramisten" - sandsynligvis står for kunstneren, mester Endele. Han var af Wittenbergskolen, og denne serie af billeder var tidligere anvendt i en tysk udgave af Luthers Postil. Et par af billederne er mærket med årstallene 1561 og 1562. Efter lånet til Danmark må de være returneret, da de ikke optræder senere i noget andet dansk tryk. Træskæreren har markeret sig med en træskærerkniv og et 4tals-agtigt tegn, der er et i tiden og tidligere ofte anvendt laugsmærke. Et par af billederne tilhører en helt anden serie, f.eks. Del I, blad 71b. De tilskrives Hans Brosamer og hele denne serie blev brugt af Matz Vingaard i hans Lutherpostil 1577.Lauritz Nielsen: 886. - Thesaurus I, 100. - Bibl. Danica I:499. - Birkelund, 31. The exceedingly scarce first edition of the first Danish edition of Hemmingsen’s Postil. Only two complete copies are known on private hands, one that was owned by Thore Virgin up until 1947, and another copy that appeared in France some years back and which is now in a Danish private collection. According to Lauritz Nielsen, merely four complete copies are registered in libraries world-wide (Royal Library in Danmerk, Linköping’s Stifts- og Landbibliotek, Karen Brahe in Odense, and Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel). The copy in the University Library in Denmark is defective, as are the three other copies that The Royal Library owns, all very incomplete. Hemmingsen’s Postille first appeared in Latin in 1561, followed by another 15 Latin editions, all in 8vo. All 16 editions are considered exceedingly rare. Carl S. Petersen calls Niels Hammingsen ”the greatest theological scientist that has ever lived in our country” (i.e. Denmark). As a pupil of Melanchthon, he is rightfully considered the most significant thinker during the Danish/Norwegian Reformation. His Postil does not cosntitute actual sermons, but ”dispositions for such, prepared with the goal of forcing the priest into serious contemplation of the holy Text.” (Own translation from Danish). By his contemporaries, Hemmingsen was known as “The common teacher of Denmark”. THE ILLUSTRATIONS: A Danish bibliophile and expert on 16th century printings (Jørgen Jark) has contributed to solve the question of the origin of the monumental illustrations. He states that according to Nagler in “Die Monogramisten”, the signature CE (in Thesaurus and Birkelund erroneously read as CF) most likely refers to the artist Master Endele. Endele was part of the Wittenberg School, and this series of illustrations had previously been used in a German edition of Luther’s Postil. A few of the illustrations bear the years 1561 and 1562. After having been lent to Denmark, they must have been returned, as they appear in no other Danish printing. The woodcutter has marked himself with a woodcutter’s knife and a sign resembling “4”, which was a commonly used guild mark of the period. A few of the illustrations belong to a completely different series, e.g. Part 1, f. 71b. They are attributed to Hans Brosamer; his enire series was used by Mats Vingaard in his Luther’s Postil from 1577. Lauritz Nielsen: 886. - Thesaurus I, 100. - Bibl. Danica I:499. - Birkelund, 31.

London, Hodgson & Son, 1939. Royal8vo. In a recent nice red full cloth binding with gilt lettering to spine. Entire volume 45 of "Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society. Second Series". Small white square paper label pasted on to lower part of spine, covering year of publication stating: "A Gift / From /Anna Wheeler". A very nice and clean copy without any institutional stamps. Pp. 161-240. [Entire volume: (4), 475 pp.]. The rare first printing of Turing's Ph.D.-thesis, which "opened new fields of investigation in mathematical logic". This seminal work constitutes the first systematic attempt to deal with the Gödelian incompleteness theorem as well as the introduction to the notion of relative computing. After having studied at King's College at Cambridge from 1931 to 1934 and having been elected a fellow here in 1935, Turing, in 1936 wrote a work that was to change the future of mathematics, namely his seminal "On Computable Numbers", in which he answered the famous "Entscheidungsproblem", came up with his "Universal Machine" and inaugurated mechanical and electronic methods in computing. This most famous theoretical paper in the history of computing caught the attention of Church, who was teaching at Princeton, and in fact he gave to the famous "Turing Machine" its name. It was during Church's work with Turing's paper that the "Church-Turing Thesis" was born. After this breakthrough work, Newman, under whom Turing had studied at Cambridge, urged him to spend a year studying with Church, and in September 1936 he went to Princeton. It is here at Princeton, under the guidance of Church, that Turing in 1938 finishes his thesis [the present paper] and later the same year is granted the Ph.D. on the basis of it. The thesis was published in "Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society" in 1939, and after the publication of it, Turing did no more on the topic, leaving the actual breakthroughs to other generations. In his extraordinary Ph.D.-thesis Turing provides an ingenious method of proof, in which a union of systems prove their own consistency, disproving, albeit shifting the problem to even more complicated matters, Gödel's incompleteness theorem. It would be many years before the ingenious arguments and striking partial completeness result that Turing obtained in the present paper would be thoroughly investigated and his line of research continued. The present thesis also presents other highly important proofs and hypotheses that came to influence several branches of mathematics. Most noteworthy of these is the idea that was later to change the face of the general theory of computation, namely the attempt to produce an arithmetical problem that is not number-theoretical (in his sense). Turing's result is his seminal "o-machines"; he here introduces the notion of relative computing and augments the "Turing Machines" with so-called oracles ("o"), which allowed for the study of problems that could not be solved by the Turing machine. Turing, however, made no further use of his seminal o-machine, but it is that which Emil Post used as the basis for his theory of "Degrees of Unsolvability", crediting Turing with the result that for any set of natural numbers there is another of higher degree of unsolvability. This transformed the notion of computability from an absolute notion into a relative one, which led to entirely new developments and in turn to vastly generalized forms of recursion theory. "In 1939 Turing published "Systems of Logic Based on Ordinals,"... This paper had a far-reaching influence; in 1942 E.L. Post drew upon it for one of his theories for classifying unsolvable problems, while in 1958 G. Kreisel suggested the use of ordinal logics in characterizing informal methods of proof. In the latter year S. Feferman also adapted Turing's ideas to use ordinal logics in predicative mathematics." (D.S.B. XIII:498). A part from these groundbreaking points, which Turing never returned to himself, he here also considers intuition versus technical ingenuity in mathematical reasoning, does so in an interesting and provocative manner and comes to present himself as one of the most important thinkers of modern mathematical as well as philosophical logic."Turing turned to the exploration of the uncomputable for his Princeton Ph.D. thesis (1938), which then appeared as "Systems of Logic based on Ordinals" (Turing 1939). It is generally the view, as expressed by Feferman (1988), that this work was a diversion from the main thrust of his work. But from another angle, as expressed in (Hodges 1997), one can see Turing's development as turning naturally from considering the mind when following a rule, to the action of the mind when not following a rule. In particular this 1938 work considered the mind when seeing the truth of one of Gödel's true but formally unprovable propositions, and hence going beyond rules based on the axioms of the system. As Turing expressed it (Turing 1939, p. 198), there are 'formulae, seen intuitively to be correct, but which the Gödel theorem shows are unprovable in the original system.' Turing's theory of 'ordinal logics' was an attempt to 'avoid as far as possible the effects of Gödel's theorem' by studying the effect of adding Gödel sentences as new axioms to create stronger and stronger logics. It did not reach a definitive conclusion.In his investigation, Turing introduced the idea of an 'oracle' capable of performing, as if by magic, an uncomputable operation. Turing's oracle cannot be considered as some 'black box' component of a new class of machines, to be put on a par with the primitive operations of reading single symbols, as has been suggested by (Copeland 1998). An oracle is infinitely more powerful than anything a modern computer can do, and nothing like an elementary component of a computer. Turing defined 'oracle-machines' as Turing machines with an additional configuration in which they 'call the oracle' so as to take an uncomputable step. But these oracle-machines are not purely mechanical. They are only partially mechanical, like Turing's choice-machines. Indeed the whole point of the oracle-machine is to explore the realm of what cannot be done by purely mechanical processes...Turing's oracle can be seen simply as a mathematical tool, useful for exploring the mathematics of the uncomputable. The idea of an oracle allows the formulation of questions of relative rather than absolute computability. Thus Turing opened new fields of investigation in mathematical logic. However, there is also a possible interpretation in terms of human cognitive capacity." (SEP).Following an oral examination in May, in which his performance was noted as "Excellent," Turing was granted his PhD in June 1938.