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(Presumably Yemen), 1772. 4to. Bound in a contemporary full leather binding with flap. Boards and flap with blindtooled ornamentation. Spine worn and worn through at hinges. Back board loose at top 2/3, but still attached. A bit of worming to boards and overall signs of wear to leather. Internally well preserved, with occasional light discolouration. 170 ff. with numerous additional smaller pages of notes inserted throughout, several in different colours (pink and blue). Text throughout is written in Naskh script, in a single column. Mostly written in black ink with occasional colorful highlights. Passages of core texts are overlined, generally in red but occasionally in black or green. The first text varies between approximately 18 and 33 lines per page and is occasionally written diagonally (for example, fol. 31rv); the second is consistent at 9 lines per page with considerable interlinear notes. Portions of the text are copied by the primary scribe on smaller pages, for example ff. 70r-79v, to be distinguished from the small pages of notes that were likely inserted later. The title and author of the first text are presented in attractive green and red calligraphy on f. 1r. The scribe’s name is also written in calligraphy on f. 1r and 126r, in addition to the colophon on f. 168v, but the name has been systematically erased in all three locations, for unknown reasons. According to the colophon on f. 168v, the manuscript was copied on the first Friday of Rabi? al-Thani 1186 AH, equivalent to 3 July 1772 CE. As noted above, the scribe’s name has been erased. The style of the script and decorations suggest that it was most likely copied in or near Yemen. Texts: Fol. 1r-126v: Da'ud al-Ashkashi’s supercommentary ?ashiyah ?alá Shar? al-Mara? on A?mad Dikquz’s (15th c.) commentary on A?mad ibn Mas?ud’s (13th c.) grammatical treatise Mara? al-arwa?, on Arabic morphology. Fol. 129v-168v: ?usam al-Din al-Kati’s (d. 1358/9) commentary Shar? al-Isaghuji on Athir al-Din al-Abhari’s (d. 1265) Isaghuji. Miscellaneous notes and poems appear on front and rear flyleaves, on pages between the two texts, in margins, between lines, and on small inserted pages. Many of these paratexts are in the hand of the primary scribe. The notes discuss numerous topics, but especially grammar and logic, the subjects of the two main texts. Marginal and interlinear notes generally comment on specific passages in the main text. A few notes, especially on fol. 128r, are in Turkish, attesting to Ottoman influence. The front pastedown has a short story or riddle about Muslims and nonbelievers on a ship. Unrecorded Arabic manuscript containing two highly important treatises, the first of which is of the utmost scarcity (only three other manuscript copies of the work are known), and the other of which is of the utmost importance to the development of logic in the Arab world. Da'ud al-Ashkashi’s supercommentary “?ashiyah ?alá Shar? al-Mara?” on A?mad Dikquz’s (15th c.) commentary on A?mad ibn Mas?ud’s (13th c.) grammatical treatise “Mara? al-arwa?”, on Arabic morphology, is extremely rare, and the present manuscript is only the fourth known copy of the work known to exist. Being unrecorded, this manuscript contributes significantly to preserving an old Arabic work of logic and grammar that may otherwise have been lost and may very well shed new light on a text that is now extremely obscure. The core texts are relatively well known, but al-Ashkashi’s work is extremely obscure. The spelling of his name is uncertain and virtually nothing is known about his life. There is one copy of this text in the Municipal Library of Alexandria (Egypt) and two at Princeton University (Incipit:????? ??? ???? ?? ?????? ?????? ??????? ????? ?????? ????????), but so far, no scholars seem to have worked seriously with the work to determine what it may reveal. Husam al-Din al-Kati’s (d. 1358/9) commentary on Athir al-Din al-Abhari’s (d. 1265) “Isaghuji” (Isagoge) is a well-known, popular, and very influential commentary, of which several copies are known in institutions. Although al-Abhari’s Isaghuji is often described as a commentary on Porphyry’s text, it is really more of an imitation, or a text in the same genre. This extremely influential commentary constitutes an introduction to logic in the style of Porphyrios’ famous “Isagoge” of Porphyry. Being extremely popular and influential, numerous manuscripts and supercommentaries of it are known. (Incipit: ????? ??? ?????? ????? ??????? ????? ?????? ????). Not much is known about Husam-al-Din-Katia (who is sometimes referred to as al-Rumi) either, but we know he was a native Anatolian. Furthermore, it was his commentary (and glosses) on al-Abhari's Isagoge that became the most popular and the standard accompanying text throughout the Ottoman period. “This work is a super-commentary or gloss on Athir al-Din al-Abhari (d. 663/1264 or 1265)’s Isaghuji, a brief collection of definitions of logic terms named after its inspiration, the Neoplatonist Porphyry (Furfuriyus, d. 309 AD)’s Isagoge. Abhari’s work which only covers the Categories of Porphyry’s work, served as the standard introductory text for the study of logic in madrasas across the Islamic world until modern times, with an emphasis on elementary semantics through the syllogism. Of the many commentaries and glosses on al-Abhari’s Isaghuji, ?üsamüddin ?asan el-Kati’s was one of the most popular, and continued to be the accompanying text by which al-Abhari’s Isaghuji was studied throughout the Ottoman period. In his autobiographical entry, Tasköprüzade mentions having studied the Isagoge via ?üsamüddin el-Kati (Hüsam-i Kati)’s commentary. Well known super glosses (?ashiya) on ?üsamüddin el-Kati’s commentary were produced by Mevlana ?araca A?mad (d. 854/1450) ???? ???? ??????, Mu?yi al-Din Mu?ammad al-Barda?i (d. 927/1521) ???? ?? ???? ??????? and Mu?yi al-Din al-Taliji (al-Talishi) ??? ????? ??????? ??????? (?ashiya ?ala´ shar? ?usam al-Din al-Kati, ????? ??? ???? ????? ?????? , composed in the year 1085). These works tend to be bound together in manuscript codices.” (Uiversity of St. Andrews: The Islamisation of Anatolia). The two works bound here on logic and grammar have clearly been thoroughly studied, both by the scribe, whose name has sadly been erased, and by later readers. The comments almost constitute a work in its own, and there may be much new material to be found here, for the serious scholar. This kind of supercommentary is extremely interesting and will reveal a lot about the development of logic in the Arab world over the numerous centuries that this supercommentary has come to cover - documenting an entire tradition of one of the most important disciplines from the middle ages. As of now, the present manuscript remains univestigated, as do several of this type whose contents are not just straightforward.

A Londres, Chez Fletcher Gyles, dans Holborn, 1755. 12mo (binding ab. 17x10 cm). Bound in a very nice, contemporary full mottled calf binding with five raised bands to richly gilt spine. All edges of boards with a single gilt line-decoration. Beautiful marbled edges. Very neat and professional restorations to hinges and upper capital. A single tiny worm-hole to middle of spine and a supeficial, barely noticeable, crack down the middle. Old paper-label to lower compartment of spine. One corner a bit worn. Small ex libris to inside of front board, ex libris stamp to half-title. Contemporary owner's name crossed out at title-page. Internally exceptionally nice and clean. Small worm-hole to inner margin of about 60 leaves towards the end, only just touching the edge of a very few letters, otherwise not affecting lettering at all. (4), 430, (6, -Table des Chapitres) pp. The exceedingly rare first edition of one of the most important and influential works of economic literature, as well as being one of the scarcest. The author is considered a pioneer of economic theory who anticipated and influenced the likes of Smith, Malthus, Turgot, Quesnay, Mirabeau, etc., etc. and this, his only published work (!), is considered the first actual work of theoretical economics, an absolutely ground-breaking work which by Jevons was characterized as the "Cradle of Political Economy".Richard Cantillon (1680-1734), though his name is probably of Spanish descent, was an Irishman, and he spent most of his life in France. He was a man of secrecy, and little is known about his life and work. He wrote his only published book, the seminal "Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en Général" between 1730 and 1734 but never saw it published, as he was murdered in 1734 (when he was robbed and his house was set on fire, presumably by his former cook whom he had dismissed ten days earlier), and the book had to await posthumous publication. There is evidence that Cantillon wrote much more than this single work, but the "Essai" seems to be the only one that survived the fire in his house on the night of his death. The work was finally published for the first time in French, anonymously, in 1755, and it is not known whether Cantillon actually wrote the manuscript in French and that the mention of translation on the title-page is false (e.g. to avoid French censorship), or whether he wrote the manuscript in English and translated it into French himself; in all cases, the work circulated in French manuscript form, before it was published, and an English manuscript has never been found. "In any case, the "Essai" is a work of genious, and it was undoubtedly written by Cantillon" (Brewer, p. 19). After having had an immense influence on the Physiocrats and the French School, directly influencing Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot , François Quesnay, Jean-Baptiste Say, Victor de Riquetti marquis de Mirabeau, Adam Smith, etc., the "Essay…" soon sank into obscurity only to be rediscovered by Jevons in the 1880'ies, and throughout the late 19th and the 20th century it has become increasingly evident that the present work is indeed a pioneering work, which directly and indirectly influenced almost all later economic theory. "Richard Cantillon was a key figure in the early development of economics. He was one of the first to see economy as a single inter-connected system and to try to explain how it worked, and the first to present a coherent theory of prices and income distribution. He made major contributions to monetary theory and to the theory of balance of payments adjustment. The Physiocrats, writing only a few years after the (delayed) publication of Cantillon's one surviving work, the "Essai sur la nature du commerce en general", took many of their ideas very directly from it. Adam Smith probably learnt from Cantillon's "Essai" , as well as from the Physiocrats. There is thus a direct line of intellectual descent from Cantillon's "Essai" to Smith's "Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations", and to modern economics." (Brewer, p. 1). "Cantillon predated the Physiocrats in two ways. First, he used the term "entrepreneur" and emphasized the role of this figure in economic life. Business people, Cantillon said commit themselves to definite payments in expectation of uncertain receipts; this risk taking is remunerated by profit, which competition tends to reduce to the normal value of the entrepreneurs' services. Second, writing a generation before Quesnay constructed his "Tableau Economique", Cantillon stated: "Cash is therefore necessary, not only for the Rent of the landlord... but also for the City merchandise consumed in the country... The circulation of this money takes place when the Landlords spend in detail in the City the rents which the farmers have paid them in lump sums, and when the Entrepreneurs of the Cities, Butchers, Bakers, Brewers, etc. collect little by little the same money to buy from the Farmers in lump sums Cattle, Wheat, Barley, etc."Cantillon developed a theory of value and price. His emphasis on the role of land and labor, on supply and demand, and on the fluctuations of price around intrinsic value makes him a direct forerunner of classical economists... Cantillon anticipated classical economic thought in several other ways. For example, he stated, "Men multiply like mice in a barn if they have unlimited Means of Subsistence." The classical economist Thomas Malthus held a similar view. Also, Cantillon analyzed interest as a reward for the risk taken in lending, based on profits that the entrepreneurs can make by borrowing and investing... In addition, Cantillon focused on the productivity of a nation's resources..." (Brue, pp. 59-60).See: Anthony Brewer, Richard Cantillon: Pioneer of Economic Theory, 1992Stanley L. Brue, The Evolution of Economic Thought. Sixth Edition, 2000Kress: 5423; Einaudi: 846; Goldsmiths’ 8989; Higgs, Bibliography of Economics, 938.

St. Petersburg, 1869. 8vo. Extract in contemporary or slightly later blank blue paper wrappers. Wrappers with neat professional restorations from verso, barely noticeable. A very fine and clean copy. Pp. 60-77. Exceedingly scarce first printing of Mendeleev’s seminal Russian Chemical Society-paper of March 1869, presenting for the first time the periodical table of the elements. “His newly formulated law was announced before the Russian Chemical Society in March 1869 with the statement “elements arranged according to the value of their atomic weights present a clear periodicity of properties.” Mendeleev’s law allowed him to build up a systematic table of all the 70 elements then known.” (Encycl. Britt.) “Early in 1869, Russian chemist Dmitrii Mendeleev was in a predicament many people are familiar with—he was facing a deadline. He had delivered the first volume of his inorganic chemistry textbook to his publisher but was struggling with how to organize the second volume. This struggle would culminate in a remarkable discovery, a system that classified all of the chemical elements. In March 1869, Mendeleev delivered a full paper to the Russian Chemical Society spelling out the most significant aspect of his system, that characteristics of the elements recur at a periodic interval as a function of their atomic weight. This was the first iteration of the periodic law.” (OSU) Mendeleev’s system was not yet perfect when it appeared in 1869, but it would prove to be one of the most fundamental of scientific laws, one that would hold true through new discoveries and against all challenges. Mendeleev not only recognized that what seemed to be a randomness of the elements fitted into a system, he also suggested that the gaps in his system would later be filled with elements yet unknown to the scientific world. The discovery of new elements in the 1870s fulfilled several of Mendeleev’s predictions and brought increased interest to the periodic system, making it an invaluable tool for research. “He had such faith in the validity of the periodic law that he proposed changes to the generally accepted values for the atomic weight of a few elements and predicted the locations within the table of unknown elements together with their properties. At first the periodic system did not raise interest among chemists. However, with the discovery of the predicted elements, notably gallium in 1875, scandium in 1879, and germanium in 1886, it began to win wide acceptance. Gradually the periodic law and table became the framework for a great part of chemical theory. By the time Mendeleev died in 1907, he enjoyed international recognition and had received distinctions and awards from many countries.” (Encycl. Britt.) Horblit 74 Barchas 1412 [Dibner 48 - citing the German translation of 1891]

(Edinburgh, 1839-41). Elephant-folio. In the two original half-calf-folders with green leather-spines and pattern-stamped cloth boards; gilt title and author to front boards. Remains of the original green cloth-ties. Some wear to spines, especially at capitals. 12 magnificent hand-coloured plates with one leaf of text for each, the first, 8th and 11th text-leaves with an engraved illustration measuring 22x13,5 cm. (depicting "Stake Nets of the Solway Firth", "Poke Nets of the Solway Firth", and "Young States of S. Truttafrom Mr. Shaw's Ponds" - the last beautifully hand-coloured); all leaves laid in loose, as originally published, and all plates with the original tissue-guards. Plates and text-leaves measuring ab. 64,5 x 49 cm The exceedingly scarce first printing of this monumental work on British salmon, one of the finest books on fishes ever produced. The work is generally considered the Audubon of salmons; the quality of the plates is considered unsurpassed and the scientific research that lies behind it makes it of the utmost importance to the study of salmons."Jardine was a keen sportsman, expert with rod and gun, and followed his hounds. He was not averse to making deer which strayed from his neighbour's estate onto Jerdine Hall land pay for their trespass. He was also an amateur artist, working in watercolours, and exhibited, as an honorary member, at the Scottish Royal Academy, as well as other art exhibitions in Dumfries. When writing his books, he learned to etch, to draw on wood blocks for wood engraving, to lithograph and to use a variant of lithography called papyrography. One of the finest books of fishes ever printed was Jardine's "The British Salmonidae", for which he did the drawings and etchings himself.Jardine was the foremost ichthyologist in Scotland, perhaps even in the United Kingdom, in the nineteenth century. He was a fine fisherman and fished the Annan, which flowed through his grounds in Dumfriesshire, and the best stretches of the Tweed when he lived for three years at St Boswells, Roxburghshire. One of his aims was to establish his life cycles of the salmon and the sea trout, for which he tagged fish in a specially constructed pool at Jardine Hall, and visited the fisheries at Perth where experiments were carried out. His reputation as a fly fisherman was well known, and he enjoyed many days of sport with other eminent naturalists such as P.J. Selby, John Gould, Richard Parnall, as well as friends and neighbours. His interest in fishing and fisheries led to his appointment as one of the royal commissioners to the Salmon Fisheries Survey of England and Wales in 1860." (Jackson and Davis, "Sir William Jardine. A Life in Natural History", p. X). Jardine was also famous for his huge museum collections, among these a very extensive collection of skins. In the late 1820'ies the collections began to encompass vertebrates other than birds, and it is from this time that his scientific interests in fish began to develop. Although Jardine's interest had always extended beyond the British Isles and he also received many specimens of fish from abroad, his main interest remained British fish, and especially those of the salmon family, which greatly fascinated him. "Some of these were little known, and even in the early nineteenth century were considered rare." (Jackson & Davis, p. 57). From around the beginning of the 1830'ies Jardine was on the lookout for more specimens and further advice, and he began corresponding with the famous Cornish naturalist and ichthyologist, Jonathan Couch. He also began corresponding with other respected scientists and correspondents and with much support from all of these, Jardine devoted more and more of his time and effort to investigating fish, especially the salmon family. In 1834 he began a tour of Sutherland that came to have a significant impact on his studies of the salmon family. He brought Selby with him, and due to their many notes, drawings, and observations, Jardine now had the confidence to present a lecture, in which he revised the scientific status of the Salmonidae discovered on their excursion, to the British Association, which he held in Edinburgh during the late summer of 1834. It is this lecture that established his reputation as an ichthyologist, and it is evident from many sources of the period that he was now much admired within this field. "[w]hen he attended the British Association meeting in Newcastle in August 1838, not only did he chair the Botany and Zoology section, but he also gave a lecture on the Salmonidae of Scotland. By this time he was bringing to fruition a much more ambitious project, with the preparation of the plates for the "Illustrations of British Salmonidae, with Descriptions", which was published in two parts in 1839 and 1841." (Jackson & Davis, p. 60).Jardine had originally planned to work on the project with Selby and had already suggested him this in 1834. Selby supported him throughout the project, but eventually Jardine undertook the work alone. The illustrations of the work were to comprise the salmons of both England and Ireland, and in a letter to T.C. Eyton he indicates many of his thoughts concerning the production as well as his continued interest in fishes around the world; he describes his wish to illustrate the specimens life-size, although that would restrict sales, his and Lizar's frustrations of finding a skilled enough colourist, as well as his view on drawing the fish directly at the edge of the water in order to capture the iridescence and colours of the fish straight away, so that they would not have had time to fade, which they do rapidly after death. Among other things he writes "The sale will of course be limited & one to my list is important. If it will clear its way I shall be satisfied so far as the plates are concerned... but Illustrations of the size which I have chosen are always attended with more expense in the publication than those of a less [?] size. All the drawings have been made at the waters edge, and I am sanguine that the work will be creditable to all both artist and engraver... The 1st number will be out in a very short time it is all prepared except the colouring which we have been annoyed about in the north. We have however now selected Mr. Gould' colourer [Gabriel Bayfield] in London, & from what he has put out in these departments we have considerable reliance." (See Jackson & Davis, p. 61).Thus, the plates were etched by Jardine himself and coloured by Bayfield. The first number of plates were sent to Bayfiled for colouring in July 1838, and the first part of "Illustrations" was advertised as published in August 1839, whereas the second was ready in September 1841. "It is not known how many copies were eventually sold, but Jardine (who had exclusive rights to the publication) hinted in 1844 that "There are only 70 copies coloured" - and indication that few coloured copies were to hand after supplying copies to the subscribers. Lizars had been responsible for producing and distributing the books, but when his establishment in Edinburgh closed, Jardine transferred the stock of uncoloured plates to Jardine Hall. Even in the 1860s there was a demand for copies of the Salmonidae, and also for individual plates, and the faithful Bayfield was asked once more to act as colourist for these. Some indication of the price of the complete work is given by Jardine in a letter to John Gould, asking him to deliver a copy to Pickering in Picadilly and asking him "to take payment for £5 16". Initially prices of £2 12s 6d (coloured) and £1 11s 6d (plain) per part had been suggested, which had risen to £3 3s 0d by August 1839. The first estimates also suggested that an initial run of some 50 copies was sensible until the demand could be gauged, and noted that the cost of colouring each impression was 1s 6d." (Jackson & Davis, p. 62).The work is now considered one of the finest books on fish ever produced, both due to its great artistic value and its "meticulous and painstaiking scientific research" (p. 62); besides its scientific value and scientific importance, it is of the greatest scarcity with no more than 70 copies (at the most) produced, and many fewer that have survived. Nissen 2092; not in Wood;

Kjöbenhavn, 1837-1847. Bound in one nice contemporary half calf binding with blindstamped and gilt ornamentation to spine. Gilding vague, also the gilt title. Minor bumping to corners. Internally a bit of scattered brownspotting, but overall unusually nice, clean, and fresh. A truly excellent copy. See collation below. A magnificent set - unusually nice and clean and bound together in a contemporary binding, which is almost never the case - of the first edition of this exceedingly rare collection of Andersen's earliest fairy tales. This legendary fairy tale-collection that created the fairy tale-genre and brought Andersen international fame, consists in six parts that together make up two volumes. As with most of the other few existing copies, the present set is a mixture of issues (though here, merely two of the parts are in second issue). "With the passing of each year, Andersen's genious brought forth new "wonder stories", and the fame he had so desperately craved and striven for became a reality. Little did he know in the spring of 1835, when he all but had to beg his publisher to accept these remarkable tales, that one day they would make him immortal. And little did the critics, nearly all of whom advised him to give up his "experiment" and devote himself to his other writings, ever dream that they would live to see him gain world acclaim for these tales. For almost a hundred years now, generation after generation has been brought up on Andersen's stories. Take the English-speaking world, for instance. Since the first appearance of Andersen's Fairy Tales in London and New York, in 1846, over seven hundred different editions, including dozens of varied translations, illustrated by more than a hundred different artists, have been published in the United States alone. Indeed, Andersen's stories will live on as classics - as much part of our civilization as the two primary educational factors, reading and writing." (Jean Hersholt, p. 27). Due to the fact that the six little pamphlets together, printed in different years, all have their own title-pages, half-titles, contents, etc. and that there were then also printed all of this for each volume of three (times two) together, the book binders almost always removed several of these "extra" leaves, as they seemed superfluous. It was never the intention of the publisher that the single half-titles, title-pages or tables of contents be preserved. However, due to the many different laves that were deemed "superfluous" or not, all existing sets of these two little volumes have their individual mix-up of half-titles, titles, and tables of contents. Thus, no copies are known to exist with all leaves present. "During Andersen's lifetime 162 of his Fairy Tales were published, but the scarcest and most difficult to obtain are these six little pamphlets. We do not know exactly how many, or how few, copies were printed, but we do know that no copy with all the title pages and tables of contents has ever been offered for sale by any dealer or at any auction. To my knowledge, only five or six complete copies of the first printings (1835-1842) still exist. Even the second printing of the six pamphlets in their entirety (1842-1847) is exceedingly scarce and difficult to obtain." (Jean Hersholt).Here follows a collation including mention of issues and lacunae: Vol. I: VIII pp. (joint title-page (dated 1837) for the three parts, contents-leaf for all three parts, and preface ("Til de ældre Læsere"). The joint half-title merely stating "Eventyr for Børn" has not been bound in.First Part: 61 (including the title-page), (3) (blank verso of p. 61 and the contents-leaf for part one) pp. The half-title has not been bound in. Second issue, 1842.Second Part: 76 (including half-title and title-page), 2 (contents-leaf for part two) pp. + 1 f. (blank). Second issue, 1844.Third Part: 60 (including half-title and title-page) pp., 2 (contents-leaf for part two) pp. + 1 f. (blank). First issue, 1837.Vol. II: 3 ff. (joint title-page, dedication-leaf (for Mrs. Heiberg), contents-leaf for all three parts). First Part: 58 (including title-page), (2) (contents-leaf for part one) pp. The half-title has not been bound in. First issue, 1838.Second Part: 53 (including title-page), (3) (verso of p. 53 and contents-leaf for part two) pp. The half-title has not been bound in. First issue, 1839.Third Part: 49 (including title-page), (3) (verso of p. 49 and contents-leaf for part three) pp. The half-title has not been bound in. First issue, 1842..This is one of the most complete copies we have ever seen, as the only leaves not withbound are some of the half-titles. Usually a lot more leaves have been left out by the binders, and it's even rare to find copies that have all title-pages. The separate contents-leaves are very rarely found preserved in copies that have the joint contents-leaves, and the blank leaves are almost never withbound. BFN: 266; Hersholt: 23; PMM: 299.

Berlin, Franz Duncker, 1859. 8vo. Nice contemporary hafl calf with gilt lettering to spine. A bit of wear to extremities, markings after old label to front board and signs of vague damp staining to front board. A mostly faint damp stain to outer inner corner throrughout, but otherwise very nice. Title-page a bit dusty. Old library number (872) to front free end-paper and top of title-page and marginal pencil-annotations to a number of leaves. VIII, (2), 170 pp. Title-page with the ownership-signature of Alexander Appolonovich Manuilov to top of title-page and binding with his initials "A. M." in gold to the fot of spine. Scarce first edition, in a magnificent association-copy, of the groundbreaking work, in which Marx first presents his revolutionizing theories of capitalism, forming the foundation for his main work "The Capital", which appeared eight year later. It is also in this milestone of political and economic thought that Marx presents his economic interpretation of history for the first time.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 Marx' "Zur Kritik...", i.e. 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).The work is a summation of Marx' many years of economic studies, mainly undertaken at the Reading Room of the British Museum, and it constitutes the first attempt at a general outline of his theories. Like his "Capital", the "Critique" was originally planned as a work in several volumes, but only this first volume appeared. The work, which was printed in a mere 1000 copies, is scarce and rarely seen on the market.

(Sankt Petersburg, 1748). 8vo. Bound with five other tragedies/dramas in a slightly later (late 18th century) full calf binding with gilt line-borders to boards and richly gilt spine with red and blue title- and tome-labels. Spine with some wear and corners bumped. Upper capital worn. Internally generally nice and clean and on good paper, but "Hamlet" - which has clearly been well red and presumably used for a stage set-up - has some light pencil-annotations and pencil-crossovers, occasional brownspotting, a few paper restorations - no loss of text, a tear to one leaf - no loss, and one leaf slighly loosening at the bottom. Hamlet: 68, (2) pp. - separately paginated. 26pp. + 79, (1) pp. + 62 pp. + 68, (2) pp. + 78 pp. + 1 f. blank + 29 pp. Extremely rare first edition of the first Russian translation/adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet. The first edition is incredibly scarce and deemed virtually unobtainable. A second appearance, which is also of the utmost scarcity, came out in 1786, in a collection of plays in Russian. The seminal first rendering of "Hamlet" in Russian constitutes a milestone in Russian literature and cultural history. It deeply penetrated Russian culture, and in many ways Sumarokov's "Hamlet" came to epitomize the Russian spirit. "The first Russian adaptation of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" was made by the founder of the Russian classical theatre Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov (1717-1777). The play was written in 1748 by the 31-year old ambitious statesman and poet.Some researchers suggest that this work was commissioned to legitimise the power of Peter the Great's daughter Elizabeth through cultural discourse. Elizabeth took the Russian throne as a result of a court coup against an infant great grandson of Peter's elder brother. Ivan VI was barely two months old when he became Russian Emperor and "reigned" for eleven months. For the rest of his short life he lived in exile and, from the age of 16, in solitary confinement. Elizabeth's actions might be seen as avenging her father by returning power to his successors.Translated from French, Shakespeare in Sumarokov's version was also turned into a classist play, where people represented functions, such as order and chaos, good and evil, wisdom and stupidity. According to this pattern, the state could not be left without a legitimate ruler. Therefore, Sumarokov wrote a happy end with Claudius and Polonius punished by death and Hamlet, Ophelia and Gertrude victorious and content.Although this version was rarely staged, the image of an outcast prince was often referred to. For example, Catherine the Great's son and heir Paul tried on this role - his father was assassinated and overthrown by his mother's lover to get her the throne....In the 20th century the story of Russian Hamlet continued. As the Russian poet of the Silver Age Maksimilian Voloshin put it, "Hamlet - is a tragedy of conscience, and in this sense it is a prototype of those tragedies that are experienced by the "Slavonic soul" when it lives through disintegration of will, senses and consciousness"." (Katya Rogatchevskaia, for the British Library exhibition "Shakespeare in Ten Acts").Sumarokov created the Russian "Hamlet" in 1748 and might have acquainted himself with the character of Hamlet through French sources; However, it is quite probable that his translation was actually done from English, as it is registered that he borrowed a copy of it from the Academic library in the period from 1746 to 1748.It came to play a seminal role in both Russian literature, culture, and politics in the centuries to come. "Soon after its arrival in a Russia in 1748, "Hamlet" and its chief protagonist became inseparable parts of Russian national identity, prompting such remarks as William Morris's: "Hamlet should have been a Russian, not a Dane". However, at the outbreak of the Second World War, the play seems to have disappeared for more than a decade from the major stages of Moscow and Leningrad. Thus was born the 'myth' of Stalin and Hamlet. Today virtually every mention of Hamlet in the Stalin era refers to the dictator's hatred for this tragedy and his supposed banning of it from all Soviet stages. Notwithstanding the efforts of theatre directors such as Sergei Radlov with his heroic production of Hamlet in 1938, there is no doubt that Hamlet was problematic in the context of the paradigm of Socialist Realism. And it was certainly not the most suitable play for a war-stricken country. Moreover, from Stalin's own pejorative reference to 'an indecisive Hamlet' in connection with Eisenstein's ill-fated depiction of Ivan the Terrible (Part II), it is evident that for the dictator the character of Hamlet had negative connotations. The chequered history of Hamlet in the Soviet Union from the outbreak of the War to the death of Stalin in 1953 and the flood of new productions almost immediately after this date, together with the myth of Stalin's 'ban', deserve more nuanced and broadly contextualised study than they have received to date, based on concrete historical facts, memoirs and official documents. (Michelle Assay :What Did Hamlet (Not) Do to Offend Stalin?)."Reforms initiated by Tsar Peter the Great (1672-1725) had far reaching effects on all spheres of life in eighteenth-century Russia, including the cultural sphere. Profound changes also occurred in Russian literature. As Russian literature was becoming increasingly secular and new literary genres evolved there began an intensive search for aesthetic principles and an ideological platform that would be suitable for the demands of the post-Peter the Great epoch. Alexander Sumarokov (1717-1777) was among those Russian writers who considered adopting ethical principles and aesthetic norms of French classicism the most appropriate path for the development of an emergent secular Russian literature. In his rendering of Shakespeare's Hamlet into the Russian language, Sumarokov subscribed to the rules and traditions of French classicist dramaturgy. He adopted the modus operandi and approaches to translation prevalent during the period of classicism in French literature. By doing so, Sumarokov followed a very clear objective. Tailoring his Hamlet according to the patterns of French classicism and bringing in a strong didactic element into his version of Shakespeare's masterpiece, Sumarokov was able to re-evaluate the original material and focus on the issues that he considered most important for his contemporaries in eighteenth-century Russia… Church authority that had dominated public life for centuries was greatly diminished and undermined in both political and cultural spheres. In the 18th century, Russia was a rapidly changing country. A long period of self isolation ended as Russia was opening up and turning its face towards Europe. Profound changes within society also affected the development of 18th-century Russian literature." (Nikitina, Larisa. (2008). The First Translation of Shakespeare into Russian: A Metamorphosis of Hamlet on Russian Soil. Philologie im Netz. 43. 17-27)."Alexander Sumarokov was the first Russian professional author who chose national subjects for his plays. He introduced Shakespeare to the Russian people with his adaptation of Hamlet, and it was as a spectator at his play Khorev that Elizabeth fell in love with Nikita Beketov who played the leading role." (Encycl. B.).Apart from Sumarokov's seminal version of "Hamlet", the present volume contains the following five works, all by Sumarokov, and all in first editions:Pustynnik [The Hermit]. Drama. 1769Yaropolk i Dimizia. Tragediya, 1768Vysheslav. Tragediya. (1768)Artistona. Tragediya. (1751) Dve Epistoly [Two Letters]Like Hamlet, Sumarokov's other works are very rare in all early printings, especially the first.OCLC lists two copies of this first printing of "Hamlet" in Russian in libraries worldwide: One in Germany, one in the UK.

Paris, Firmin Didot, 1822. 8vo. Uncut in the original printed wrappers. Front wrapper slightly soiled and a bit of light dampstaining throughout. Upper corner worn. Six leaves with contemporary neat annotations, scholarly notes and drawings have been inserted at the front and the back - one double-leaf in front of the title-page (with one page of annotations with references to other works by Champollion), two leaves between plates III and IV (with two and a half pages of Greek-ancient Greek-Latin correspondence alphabet) and three leaves at the end, before the final blank (with five pages of an alphabet of the first Egyptian letters - very neatly drawn - and an alphabet-correspondence at the end). A very charming and interesting copy in the exceedingly rare original wrappers. Housed in a half morocco slipcase with gilt lettering to spine. (4), 52 pp. + 4 folded plates + 1 blank leaf. The scarce first edition, in the even scarcer original printed wrappers, of Champollion's milestone work, which announced for the first time the deciphering of the Rosetta Stone, provided the key to reading Egyptian hieroglyphs, and gave birth to the entire field of modern Egyptology. This seminal work arguably constitutes the single most important philological work ever written. "[...] in the actual state of Egyptian studies, when the monuments stream out from all sides and are collected by the rulers as by amateurs, and when also the scientists of all countries are eager to engage in serious research of their subject matter and are eager to penetrate deeply into the knowledge of these written monuments which must be used to explain all the others, I do not think I should wait till another time to bring to the scientists' attention and under your honourable auspices a short but important series of new developments, which naturally belong to my Memory on HIEROGLYPHIC writing, and which will doubtlessly save you the trouble that I have taken to establish what may be very serious errors about the different periods in the history of Egyptian art and the general administration of Egypt: for this is about the series of hieroglyphs that, making an exception to the general nature of the signs of this writing, have been equipped with the ability to EXPRESS THE SOUNDS of the words, and which are used in the inscriptions of the public monuments of Egypt, the TITLES, the NAMES, and the EPONYMS OF THE GREEK OR ROMAN SOVEREIGNS, who rule Egypt one after the other. Many certainties in the history of this celebrated piece of land must arise from this new result of my research, to which I have been led quite naturally." (pp. 2-3) (*) says Champollion on the opening pages of the present letter to Mr. Dacier. And thus was laid the foundation of modern Egyptology. Jean Francois Champollion (1790-1832), known as the father of Egyptology, was by no means exaggerating when he stated the above - his letter to Mr. Dacier upon his new discoveries and the decipherment of the Egyptian hieroglyphs did change the study of Egypt and Egyptology more profoundly than any work before or after. Ever since the publication of the present work, Champollion has been credited with being the first to correctly and fully decipher the inscription on the famous Rosetta Stone, translating it, and breaking the mystery of the ancient hieroglyphic script; it is in the present work that this milestone event in the history of modern man is announced first time, and it is due to this discovery that he is accepted as the founder of Scientific Egyptology. The Rosetta Stone, which dates back to 196 B.C was found in 1799 by French Troops and was immediately brought to England, where it has been ever since. The stone was (and is) of the utmost importance to the understanding of the Egyptian language, the principles of which were totally unknown up until this point. Because the hieroglyphic inscription on the stone is accompanied by a Greek and a Demotic one with the same contents (the commemoration of Ptolemy V's accession to the Egyptian throne), Champollion was able to crack the code of the hieroglyphs and to read a language that had not been read for far more than a millennium. Other very skilled linguists had worked on the decipherment of the hieroglyphic inscription simultaneously with Champollion, but they had all given up by the time that Champollion finally had his first true breakthrough. It came in 1822, when he successfully deciphered two Egyptian names, Ramses and Thutmos, written in hieroglyphic characters in temple cartouches. Champollion's discovery pointed to the fact that the Egyptian hieroglyphs functioned as an alphabet, a phonetic language and a system of symbols that could stand for words or concepts. "And if the resembling signs of the two names render THE SAME SOUNDS on both cartouches, it is due to their ENTIRELY PHONETIC character." (p. 7). (**) He succeeded in showing that the Egyptian hieroglyphic writing system was a combination of phonetic and ideographic signs, and using his new discovery as a foundation, Champollion next turned his attention to common nouns, and deciphered the phrase "birthday celebrations" from the Rosetta Stone."It is a complex system, writing figurative, symbolic, and phonetic all at once, in the same text, the same phrase, I would almost say in the same word" says Champollion about the hieroglyphs, in the present work, after having established their meaning. He had finally cracked the code and was sure of it. He was so excited by this monumental discovery that he immediately ran to his brother's house, into his office, shouting the famous words "Je tiens l'affaire!", i.e. "I've got it!". It is said that he then fainted and spent the next five days in bed recovering. Shortly after his recovery, he began writing the letter for Mr. Dacier, outlining the discovery that laid the foundation for deciphering hieroglyphs, which was published later the same year, and a condensed version of which he presented as a speech at the Academie des Inscriptions. When he presented the speech, Thomas Young, who had given up breaking the code four years earlier, was also in the audience.In 1824, Champollion published a more comprehensive explanation of the hieroglyphic system, his famous "Précis du Système Hieroglyphiques des Anciens Egyptiens".Champollion was an extraordinary philologist, who, by the age of sixteen, besides Greek and Latin, mastered six ancient Middle Eastern languages, among these Coptic, the knowledge of which, unlike that of Egyptian, was never lost. As the first, Champollion realized the connection between the Coptic and the Egyptian language, and was able to identify many of the Egyptian words on the Rosetta Stone, as he could read them with their Coptic equivalents. He was the first to believe that both Demotic and Hieratic represented symbols, and not sounds as earlier presumed. After that he quickly realized that each single hieroglyph could represent a sign, and he began compiling a hieroglyphic alphabet. When publishing his letter to Mr. Dacier, he presented the fact that the hieroglyphs represented sounds as well as concepts, according to context. Champollion is thus the constructor of our present code of the hieroglyphic alphabet. "Further study enabled him to discover the values of a number of syllabic hieroglyphic signs, and to recognize the use of hieroglyphs as determinatives. In cases where the Greek text supplied him with the meaning of hieroglyphs of which he did not know the phonetic values, his knowledge of Coptic enabled him to suggest values which he found subsequently to be substantially correct. Further reference to determinatives and the importance of parallel passages and texts will be made later on in his work. Between 1822-24 CHAMPOLLION worked incessantly, and was enabled to modify much of his earlier views, and to develop his Alphabet, -and he evolved some rudimentary principles of Egyptian Grammar..." (Wallis Budge, The Rosetta Stone in the British Museum, pp. 224-25). "We have only been able to locate 4 auction records of the work within the last 40 years (ABPC & JAP), none of them in original wrappers.________________________________________________________________________________ORIGINAL FRENCH TEXT OF THE QUOTATIONS ABOVE (WHICH ARE IN OWN TRANSLATION):(*) "[...] dans l'etat actual des études égyptiennes, lors-que de toutes parts les monuments affluent et sont recueilles par les souverains comme par les amateurs, lorsqu'aussi, et a leur sujet, les savants de tous les pays s'empressent de se livrer à de laborieuses recherches, et s'efforcent de pénétrer intimement dans la connaissance de ces monuments écrits qui doivent servir à expliquer tous les autres, je ne crois pas devoir remettre à un autre temps d'offrir à ces savants et sous vos honorables auspices, une courte mais importante série de faits nouveaux, qui appartient naturellement à mon Mémoire sur l'écriture HIÉROGLYPHIQUE, et qui leur épargnera sans doute la peine que j'ai prise pour l'établir, peut-être aussi de graves erreurs sur les époques diverses de l'histoire des arts et de l'administration générale de l'Égypte: car il s'agit de la série ges HIÉROGLYPHES qui, faisant exception à la nature générale des signes de cette écriture, étaient doués de la faculté d'EXPRIMER LES SONS des mots, et ont servi à inscrire sur les monuments publics de l'Égypte, les TITRES, les NOMS, et les SURNOMS DES SOUVERAINES GRECS OU ROMAINS qui la gouvernèrent successivement. Bien des certitudes pour l'histoire de cette contrée célèbre doivent naître de ce nouveau résultat des mes recherches, auquel j'ai été conduit très-naturellement." (pp. 2-3).(**) "et si les signes semblables dans ces deaux noms exprimaient dans l'un et l'autre cartouche LES MÊMES SONS, ils devaient constater leur nature ENTIÈREMENT PHONÉTIQUE." (p.7).

London, 1855. 8vo. Entire volume 16, second series of "The Annals..." present, bound in a very nice red half morocco with richly gilt spine. A nice, clean, fresh, and sturdy copy. A vague stamp to title-page (London Institution) and a blindstamped marking to top of first leaf of contents (Cranbrook Institute of Science). Pp. 184-196. [Entire volume: VII, 472 pp. + 11 plates]. Exceedingly scarce first printing of Wallace's very first publication on the theory of evolution, predating any publication on the subject by Darwin. This milestone paper in the history of the theory of evolution - "A stunning scientific debut" (Nature vol. 496, p. 162) - formulates what is now known as the "Sarawak Law", which is in essence half of the theory of evolution by natural selection, which Wallace would later (1858) so famously publicize together with Darwin. From as early as 1845, Wallace had been convinced of the idea that species arise through natural laws rather than by divine fiat and he invested all in supplying scientific details and uncovering a satisfactory evolutionary mechanism. He kept this more or less to himself, however, and refrained from commenting on it in public until 1855, when he, provoked by an article by Edward Forbes Jr., published this seminal paper, "a concise synthesis of his ideas on the subject. Like many brilliant works, his "On the Law Which Has Regulated the Introduction of New Species" (September 1855) was based on well-known, acceptable scientific observations, although he had transformed the mass of facts into an unusually persuasive argument. The evidence was drawn from geology and geography - the distribution of species in time and space - and following nine acceptable generalizations (axioms), Wallace concluded: "Every species has come into existence coincident both in space and time with a pre-existing closely allied species". He claimed that he had explained "the natural system of arrangement of organic beings, their geographical distribution, their geological sequence", as well as the reason for peculiar anatomical structures of organisms." (D.S.B.). It was this paper by Wallace - not greatly read in the public, but very seriously studied by the greatest biologists of the time - that led directly to Darwin beginning his "origin of Species". - "Despite this excellent presentation (i.e. Wallace's 1855 paper), there were no public replies, although the private comments were quite another matter. Indeed, Edward Blyth, Charles Lyell, and Charles Darwin all read Wallace's article and were greatly impressed by his arguments, but in particular Lyell, who began a complete reexamination of his long-held ideas on species. On 16 April 1856 Lyell discussed Wallace's paper with Darwin, urging him to publish his own views on species as soon as possible. Darwin then began what we now call the long version of the "Origin", and that version was used as a basis for the "Origin" as published in 1859." (D.S.B.).It was in 1848 that Wallace first left England for the tropics. He did so with his friend the entomologist Henry Walter Bates, with the specific intention of solving the problem of the origin of species. "In the autumn of 1847 Mr. A.R. Wallace, who has since acquired wide fame in connection with the Darwinian theory of Natural Selection, proposed to me a joint expedition to the river Amazonas, for the purpose of exploring the Natural History of its banks; the plan being to make for ourselves a collection of objects, dispose of the duplicates in London to pay expenses, and gather facts, as Mr. Wallace expressed it in one of his letters, "towards solving the problem of the origin of species"." (Bates I: p. III). It is during these travels that Wallace begins noticing the remarkable coincidences in the distribution of species in space and time, and in 1855, while sitting in Sarawak, Borneo, he writes the paper that is now a landmark work in the history of evolutionary thought, his so-called "Sarawak-paper", which was published later the same year in the present volume of "The Annals and Magazine of Natural History". "This paper, formulating what came to be known as the "Sarawak Law", is remarkable... (Wallace) advances what is, in effect, half of the theory of evolution, namely what Darwin would call "descent with modification": the idea that the generation of a biological novelty is a genealogical process." (Berry, p. XXVII). The law now known as the Sarawak Law, or "the first half of the theory of eveolution", is stated as follows: "Every species has come into existence coincident both in time and space with a pre-existing closely allied species." This law connected and explained a vast number of independent facts. It was, in fact, Wallace's first statement of a belief in evolution, and for the following three years from the time that he wrote the essay, Wallace recounts that "the question of how changes of species could have been brought about was rarely out of my mind."According to one of the most celebrated anecdotes in the history of science, the second half of the theory of evolution by natural selection finally came to Wallace in February 1858, while delirious during an attack of malarial fever in Ternate in the Mollucas. In his own words, "there suddenly flashed upon me the idea of the survival of the fittest." The theory was thought out during the rest of the fit, drafted the same evening, and written out in full in the two succeeding evenings. Knowing that Darwin was working on the same problem, Wallace sent a manuscript summary to Darwin, who now feared that his discovery would be pre-empted. In order to avoid conflict between the two, Joseph Hooker and Carles Lyell suggested a joint publication. The essay was read, together with an abstract of Darwin's own views, as a joint paper at the Linnean Society on the 1st of July 1858.

Strasbourg, Johannes Grüninger, 28 August 1502. Folio (298 x 204 mm). Bound in an exquisite later (c. 1850) brown full morocco binding by John Clarke with gilt title and five raised bands to spine. Gilt and blindstamped lines to spine. Boards with gilt and blindstamped lines and gilt fleurons to corners. Edges and inside of boards with gilt and blindstamped lines. All edges gilt. Kept in a marbled slipcase. Slight wear to capitals and outer hinges. Armorial exlibris pasted to inside of front board. Woodcut title page remargined. Several underlinings and interlinear and marginal annotations in at least two different contemporary (or near-contemporary) hands. A6 and colophon leaf mounted (no loss). Four insignificant wormholes in lower margin, not affecting the text, from B1 through E2. A few scattered brownspots, otherwise a clean copy. Text of varying length surrounded by 72 lines of commentary. With all 214 woodcut illustrations as well as numerous woodcut initials. 449 leaves: A6 B-S8 (H +1) T-V10 x-z8 AA-HH8 II6 KK-VV8 XX6 YY-ZZ8 a-f8 aa-cc8 dd10. An excellent, complete copy of the marvellous Brant-Grüninger edition of the works of Vergil, being the first illustrated printed edition of Vergil, and altogether one of the most magnificent illustrated books in the history of printing. Arguably the most outstanding illustrated edition of any work of Classical literature, the Brant-Grüninger Vergil had a tremendous impact on sixteenth-century illustration art: "Because of the wealth and erudition of its illustrations, as well as the fact that it was the first in its field, the 1502 Vergil had a considerable influence on almost everyone who wished to illustrate the same subject during the following half century." (T.K. Rabb, Sebastian Brant and the First Illustrated Edition of Vergil, 1960, p. 196) Best known for his satirical work 'Das Narrenschiff' (1494), Sebastian Brant (1457/58 - 1521) was one of the greatest German humanists of the fifteenth (and early sixteenth) century. According to a charming epigram at the end of the book, the purpose of the illustrations was to assist 'unlearned and rustic readers' (lat. 'indoctis rusticolisque viris') in understanding the often complex content of Vergil's poetry. Although Brant indicates in the introductory poem that these were created by himself (lat. 'has nostras quas pinximus ecce tabellas'), the general assumption is that only provisional design sketches can be attributed to him. In any case, the illustrations, though in many respects anachronistic, reveal his thorough knowledge of Vergil and Vergilian scholarship. Along with the text of Vergil, including his spurious writings, the present edition contains five ancient and Renaissance Vergilian commentaries, those of Servius, Donatus, Cristoforo Landino, Antonio Mancinelli and Domizio Calderini. Adams V-457; Brunet V 1277; Dibdin II 542.

(Venice, 1470'ies - 80'ies). 4to. 210x240 mm. In a lovely, strictly contemporary Italian binding. Original wooden boards with beveled edges. Top outer edge of front board chipped and a small split at bottom outer edge. Boards with remnants of the original leather previously partially covering boards, revealing the leather cords, and with an exposed spine revealing four strips of Medieval parchment that hold the quires together (along with a bit of restoration glue, barely noticeable). The top strip with red paint and the other three with fourteenth-century Gothic script. Original brass clasps to front board. An excellent, solid, contemporary binding. 70 ff. (f.70 blank), complete (i-v 12, vi 10), 29 lines to a page, mostly with ruling, occasionally only with frame ruling (150 x 77 mm). Vertical catchwords at the bottom of verso of the last folio of each of quire (i.e. ff. 12, 24, 36, 48, 60), surrounded by wave lines. Written in an easily legible, experienced Italian humanist miniscule. Space (sometimes with cue letters) for initials left blank. No rubrication, but majuscule lettering as headlines at new beginnings or major text divisions. Large, detailed drawing of pointing hand on f. 3, in contemporary hand. Ff. 8v and 24v with scribbled border in light brown ink around the textblocks, in an early modern hand. Another later hand, presumably a later owner, has added “Jacopi – che qui anno 1693 i Viterbo 1693” in runny ink on f. 29v. Crudely written calculations in the same hand to ff. 59v and 61r. Front pasted-down end-paper with paste stains, presumably from a previous bookplate, and with a note in 19th century German script to top. Foliation in modern pencil in top right corner throughout. F1 a bit dusty and with brownspotting. Occasional minor brownspotting. Minor damp staining to margins of last two quires, no loss and not affecting text. Otherwise generally in excellent condition. Two different watermarks in the paper: 1) a scale inside a circle (see ff. 52+57, at inner margin) – this is described in Briquet (Les filigranes…, 1923) as “Balance dens un cerele, à plateau concaves”, nr. 2474 – Venice, 1480. 2) the letter P with loop through shaft also (see ff. 64+70, at inner margin). We have not been able to identify this. The text is divided into the major setions divided mostly by Majuscule "headlines", and begins thus: 1) “[C]ARMINA QVI Condam studio florente peregi...", ending (f. 9v) "hec ubi regnant”; 2) beginning “[P]POST HEC PAVLIS PER opticuit Atentionem...", ending (f. 21v) "Quo celum regitur regat”; 3) beginning “[I]AM CANTUM illa finierat…", ending (f. 41) "Perdit dum videt inferos”; 4) "Explicit iii Incipit iiii L", beginning “[H]EC cum Phylosophia dignitate vultus...", ending (f. 58) "Si dera donat”; 5) beginning “[D]IXERUNT Orationisque cursum ad alia...", ending (f. 69v) "cum ante oculos agitis iudicis cuncta cernentis / GRATIAS DEO Amen”. F70 blank. Complete version of the text, with some minor word and orthographic variations in comparison to the printed standard version, and without the printed edition’s few lines in Greek. No space has been left for these and they were clearly not intended to be added later. A truly magnificent and rare complete Medieval manuscript copy of one of the most significant philosophical texts ever written, Boethius’ magnum opus. The seminal Consolation of Philosophy revolutionized modern thought and influenced medieval and renaissance philosophy to an unprecedented degree. Although one of the most widely read and studied works of the Middle Ages, Medieval manuscript copies of the “Consolation of Philosophy” are very rare on the market. The present manuscript is written in a steady, easily legible, clearly very experienced humanist hand. It does not have the gloss found in most contemporary manuscripts of this sort of text, and is therefore arguably not one of the more usual schoolbooks from the period. It has possibly been copied for the humanist scribe’s own use – in or around Venice during the last quarter of the 15th century – and has thus possibly functioned as a template for other manuscript copies of the text. Boethius (480-ca. 525) is a difficult figure to place in the history of philosophy. Chronologically, he clearly belongs to late Antiquity, but he is a Christian and he writes in Latin. Thus, as a late antique philosopher, a Christian, and one of the thinkers that influenced the middle ages the most, he has come to represent the very centre of a tradition that goes directly back to Plotinus and thereby indirectly back to Plato and Aristotle. As such, he constitutes one of the single most important thinkers in the entire history of philosophy. "Only Aristotle himself, and perhaps Augustine, were more important and wide-ranging in their influence... In short it would be hard to understand the development of philosophy in the medieval Latin West without looking carefully at Boethius' work..." (Marenbon pp. 11-12). Accused of treason against the gothic regime as well as of sorcery, Boethius was imprisoned and later executed, in spite of denying the claims against him. His own theory was that his political activity - as a court official known for defending the weak - was at the core of the accusations against him. He was simply too upright and his enemies were too many. According to historians, the most plausible explanation is that Theoderic doubted the loyalty of the Roman aristocracy and thereby especially the outspoken Boethius. While in prison, Boethius wrote what was to become one of the most widely read, commented upon, and influential works in the history of philosophy. This highly original work, composed as a philosophical conversation between Boethius himself and the goddess of Philosophy, paved the way for a genre completely unknown at the time; both its style, composition, and contents matter has been imitated hundreds of times since its first appearance. Though always true to Christianity, this philosophical magnum opus contains many allusions to pagan neo-platonism. During the Middle Ages, however, all passages of the work were very popularly interpreted, in full accordance with Christianity. Few thinkers have been of such seminal importance to Medieval and Renaissance philosophy and religion as Boethius. Few books were so widely read during the Middle Ages as the "Consolation of Philosophy", and virtually no book has been as major a source of ancient philosophy from the early Middle Ages and throughout the Renaissance as this one. As well of being of great textbook value, this work profoundly inspired and influenced a wide range of influential religious, philosophical and literary writers. "For some writers, such as the Middle English poet, Chauser, the "Consolation" seems to have provided a model for writing about serious issues in a way which presupposes no commitment to Christianity, a philosophical precedent for the use of pagan setting in a literary fiction." (John Marenbon, Medieval Philosophy, 1998, p. 24). With the death of Boethius, "The first scholastic" (Copenhaver & Schmitt, p. 130), came also the end of ancient tradition of philosophy in the Latin West, though through his writings, the influence of this philosophical tradition was preserved during the Middle Ages and through to the Renaissance and early modern times. "The last roman author of significance, Boethius, was not a rhetorician, though he had surely received a rhetorical education, but a trained philosopher thoroughly familiar with Greek philosophy and literature. He was a Christian and wrote a few treatises on theology, but his philosophical works show no Christian influence. The "Consolation of Philosophy" is a highly personal and original work imbued with Stoic and Neoplatonic conceptions that has continued to impress its readers to its present day although it is no longer as widely read as it was in former centuries." (Kristeller, p. 226). "The crowning work of his life, the "Philosophiae Consolatio", was composed in prison not long before his death. It is in the form of a dialogue, and includes 39 short poems in 13 different metres... Throughout the work there is no evidence of distinctively Christian belief, but there are a few phrases of apparently Christian origin... But the absence of all reference to the consolations of religion is much more remarkable than the presence of a few phrases such as these... He does not oppose any Christian doctrine, but his attitude is that of a Theist and not that of a Christian. He supplied the Middle Ages with an eclectic manual of moral teaching severed from dogma and endued with all the charm of exquisite verse blended with lucid prose; and, as the latest luminary of the ancient world, he remained long in view, while the sources of the light he reflected were forgotten. The masterpiece which was his last legacy to posterity was repeatedly translated, expounded and imitated in the Middle Ages, and these translations were among the earliest literary productions of the vernacular languages of Europe, - English, French, German, Italian and Spanish among the translators being names of no less importance than king Alfred, Chaucer and queen Elizabeth. It was also translated into Greek by Maximus Pledanus (d. 1310). The emperor Otho III, who died in 1002, a hundred years after Alfred, placed in his library a bust of Boëthius, which was celebrated by the best Latin poet of his age, the future pope Silvester II. Three centuries later, he is quoted more than 20 times in the "Convito" and elsewhere by Dante, whose best-known lines "Nessun maggior dolore Che ricordarsi del tempo felice Nelle miseris", are a reminiscence of Boëthius... Dante places him in the Fourth Heaven among the twelve "living and victorious splendours" which are the souls of men learned in Theology... Two hundred years after Dante, the book of Consolation composed by Boëthius in the "Tower of Pavia" brought solace to Sir Thomas More in the Tower of London. It has since won the admiration of the elder Scaliger and Casaubon, and has been described as a "golden volume" by Gibbon, who eulogises its author as "the last of the Romans whom Cato or Tully could have acknowledged for their countryman." (Sandy's I: 256-58).

Paris, Charles Estienne, 1553. Small 4to. Bound in a lovely 19th century red morocco binding with five raised bands and gilt ornamentations to spine. Boards with blindstamped frame-borders and gilt ornamental centre-pieces. All edges of boards gilt and inner gilt dentelles. All edges gilt. "E. THOMAS" discreetly printed to top of front free end-paper. Front free end-paper with woodcut armorial book-plate (Bibliotheque du Plessis Villoutreys). First and last leaves with a bit of brownspotting, otherwise very nice and clean throughout. The last three leaves with neat restorations - neatly closed tear, with no loss and a couple of small restorations to top margin (far from affecting text). (8), 148 pp. Estienne's printer's device to title-page and woodcut initials. The extremely rare first translation printed in any language, being the first printed French translation, of one of the most important and influential works in the history of mankind, Machiavelli's "The Prince". After the original printing in Italian, the present is arguably the most desirable edition of the seminal masterpiece that is Machiavelli's magnum opus. "The Prince" constitutes the beginning of modern political philosophy and one of the most influential works in the history of modern thought. It founded the science of modern politics on the study of mankind, and even today no political thinker can disregard the importance of this masterpiece of political theory.The translation not only inaugurated the tradition of translating "The Prince" into other languages than Italian, it also exercised the greatest influence upon the entire Machiavellian tradition and constitutes an immeasurable historical source in its own right. Although the work was never reprinted and this extremely scarce edition is the only available version of the text, the effects of it are still clearly visible in our times. It secured the diffusion of the text throughout Europe and it served as the basis for the most important of the later translations, e.g. Jacques Gohory's from 1571, which is considered not much more than a slight reworking of Cappel's translation. As Jean Bingen points to, Cappel's translation also directly influenced (and influences) almost all modern translations of the work. The reason for this continued direct and strong influence is of course not only due to its priority in time over all other translations, it is also due to the fact that Cappel's translation always has been and still is considered the most "Machiavellian" translation of "The Prince" ever made and the one closest to the source - both in time, in style, and in rendering of the content. Cappel was the only of the early translators who was himself a Machiavellian and his respect for and understanding of the text shines from the pages. "Besides being a politically charged text, the "Principe" was also a piece of beautiful and clear Italian prose, and its tightness and brevity constituted a decisive advantage over the "Discorsi". An awareness of the literary qualities of the text is also evident in the preface Guillaume Cappel wrote to his translation (dedicated to Jean Bertrand, Lord Privy Seal), in which he underlines Machiavelli's use of an appropriate style and the good use to which he puts his knowledge of history... These qualities prompted Cappel to undertake his translation...Cappel's enterprise was praised for his literary qualities by the members of the Pléiade who had their own poems inserted at the end of the translation. More recently, his version had been justly praised as "very literal and sinewy". It has also been noted, however, that it was not reprinted, thought Jacques Gohery's version, published 1571, followed it "almost verbatim"." (Petrina, Machiavelli in the British Isles, p. 12). "Guillaume Cappel II, sieur de Preigny (1530-86), was widely known in medicine for his work on nutrition and his editing of texts on how to avoid the plague and on general medical diagnosis. A member of the Catholic League, he was determined not only to bring up his brother's children in the Catholic faith but also to exploit Tilloy to his own profit. However, in 1586 he was killed in an affray with the enemies of the League... Family divisions of the kind that occurred at Le Tilloy were customary during the religious wars, but it is not because of his part in them, nor even because of his Catholic enthusiasm and his medical reputation, that Guillaume Cappel deserves attention. In 1553, at the age of twenty-three, he published a French translation of Machiavelli's "Prince", dedicating it to a powerful patron, the "Garde des sceaux" Jean Bertrand. Appended to the book were poems praising Mchiavelli, and Cappel as his French interpreter, by Marc-Antoine Muret and Rémy Belleau, and other verses about the relative merits of French and Italian princes by Etienne Jodelle. Guillaume Cappel clearly mixed in the foremost literary circles of the time. He claimed to be a student of politics, as well as of medicine and letters, and in his dedication to Bertrand, which he modelled on Machiavelli's own prefatory letter to Lorenzo de' Medici, he expressed an admiration for Machiavelli that knew no bounds. Politics, he remarked, constituted the highest branch of philosophy, itself the queen of the "sciences". Other political writers were sophists producing utopias, but Machiavelli wrote of government as it really was. Cappel went on to argue in his preface that men were more ungrateful towrads their ruler than any animal towrads its master. The exercise of power was shaped by necessity, not by virtuous intentions, and only those who understood this could govern successfully. For his part, the ruler necessarily pursued two aims, to keep his authority intact and to extend his dominions. According to Cappel, Machiavelli had boldly analysed the faults committed by princes in the pst, had shown how problems could be dealt with in the future, and had brilliantly explained the causes of political upheavals.Guillaume Cappel's translation of "The Prince" was the first of three to be published in France before the massacre of St. Bartholomew, when the black legend of Machiavelli became dominant... Guillaume Cappel was not only the first translator of "The Prince" but also the one most in sympathy with Machiavelli himself. He scornfully refuted those who accused his author "de facooner un prince trop rigoreux." A good doctor, said Cappel in his dedication, did not worry whether his patient disliked the remedy he prescribed, but merely whether the cure would work. Cappel refused to take up the rumor whether Machiavelli was an atheist, because, he claimed, there was nothing he had written that could support or deny the charge... Cappel's translation was sharper, and truer to the original than Gaspard d'Auvergne's or Gohory's.... The young Guillaume Cappel was, at this time at least, a true Machiavellian." (McMillan Salmo, Renaissance and Revolt, pp. 62-63). The work is of the utmost scarcity, with only few copies known. According to the "Catalogue général" of the Bibliothèque National, at least thirty-five editions of three French translations of "The Prince" appeared between 1553 and 1664. "The doctor Guillaume Cappel is credited with the first French translation of "The Prince" (1553), followed by Gaspard d'Auvergne (1553) and Jacques Gohory (1571)." (Jacob Soll, Publishing The Prince, p.73).(See PMM 63 - first edition).

High Holborn, for the Council by Edward Truelove, 1871. Small 8vo. Near contemporary quarter cloth with silver lettering to front board. Binding with signs of use, but overall good. One closed marginal tear and title-page with a few brownspots, otherwise very nice and clean. 35 pp. Exceedingly rare first edition (with the names of Lucraft and Odger still present under "The General Council") of one of Marx' most important works, his seminal defense of the Paris Commune and exposition of the struggle of the Communards, written for all proletarians of the world. While living in London, Marx had joined the International Working Men's Association in 1864 - "a society founded largely by members of Britain's growing trade unions and designed to foster international working class solidarity and mutual assistance. Marx accepted the International's invitation to represent Germany and became the most active member of its governing General Council, which met every Tuesday evening, first at 18 Greek Street in Soho and later in Holborn. In this role, Marx had his first sustained contact with the British working class and wrote some of his most memorable works, notably "The Civil War in France". A polemical response to the destruction of the Paris Commune by the French government in 1871, it brought Marx notoriety in London as 'the red terror doctor', a reputation that helped ensure the rejection of his application for British citizenship several years later. Despite his considerable influence within the International, it was never ideologically homogenous... (homas C. Jones: "Karl Marx' London").The work was highly controversial, but extremely influential. Even though most of the Council members of the International sanctioned the Address, it caused a rift internally, and some of the English members of the General Council were enraged to be seen to endorse it. Thus, for the second printing of the work, the names of Lucraft and Odger, who had now withdrawn from the Council, were removed from the list of members of "The General Council" at the end of the pamphlet. "[Marx] defended the Commune in a bitterly eloquent pamphlet, "The Civil War in France", whose immediate effect was further to identify the International with the Commune, by then in such wide disrepute that some of the English members of the General Council refused to endorse it." (Saul K. Padover, preface to Vol. II of the Karl Marx Library, pp. XLVII-XLVIII)."Written by Karl Marx as an address to the General Council of the International, with the aim of distributing to workers of all countries a clear understanding of the character and world-wide significance of the heroic struggle of the Communards and their historical experience to learn from. The book was widely circulated by 1872 it was translated into several languages and published throughout Europe and the United States." (The Karl Marx Archive)Marx concluded "The Civil War in France" with these impassioned words, which were to resound with workers all over the world: "Working men's Paris, with its Commune, will be forever celebrated as the glorious harbinger of a new society. Its martyrs are enshrined in the great heart of the working class. Its exterminators history has already nailed to that eternal pillory from which all the prayers of their priests will not avail to redeem them."The address, which was delivered on May 30, 1871, two days after the defeat of the Paris Commune, was to have an astounding effect on working men all over the world and on the organization of power of the proletarians. It appeared in three editions in 1871, was almost immediately translated into numerous languages and is now considered one of the most important works that Marx ever wrote. " "The Civil War in France", one of Marx's most important works, was written as an address by the General Council of the International to all Association members in Europe and the United States.From the earliest days of the Paris Commune Marx made a point of collecting and studying all available information about its activities. He made clippings from all available French, English and German newspapers of the time. Newspapers from Paris reached London with great difficulty. Marx had at his disposal only individual issues of Paris newspapers that supported the Commune. He had to use English and French bourgeois newspapers published in London, including ones of Bonapartist leanings, but succeeded in giving an objective picture of the developments in Paris. ...Marx also drew valuable information from the letters of active participants and prominent figures of the Paris Commune, such as Leo Frankel, Eugene Varlin, Auguste Serraillier, Yelisaveta Tornanovskaya, as well as from the letters of Paul Lafargue, Pyotr Lavrov and others.Originally he intended to write an address to the workers of Paris, as he declared at the meeting of the General Council on March 28, 1871. His motion was unanimously approved. The further developments in Paris led him, however, to the conclusion that an appeal should be addressed to proletarians of the world. At the General Council meeting on April 18, Marx suggested to issue "an address to the International generally about the general tendency of the struggle." Marx was entrusted with drafting the address. He started his work after April 18 and continued throughout May. Originally he wrote the First and Second drafts of "The Civil War in France" as preparatory variants for the work, and then set about making up the final text of the address.He did most of the work on the First and Second drafts and the final version roughly between May 6 and 30. On May 30, 1871, two days after the last barricade had fallen in Paris, the General Council unanimously approved the text of "The Civil War in France", which Marx had read out."The Civil War in France" was first published in London on about June 13, 1871 in English, as a pamphlet of 35 pages in 1,000 copies. Since the first edition quickly sold out, the second English edition of 2,000 copies was published at a lower price, for sale to workers. In this edition [i.e., MECW], Marx corrected some of the misprints occurring in the first edition, and the section "Notes" was supplemented with another document. Changes were made in the list of General Council members who signed the Address: the names of Lucraft and Odger were deleted, as they had expressed disagreement with the Address in the bourgeois press and had withdrawn from the General Council, and the names of the new members of the General Council were added. In August 1871, the third English edition of "The Civil War in France" came out, in which Marx eliminated the inaccuracies of the previous editions.In 1871-72, "The Civil War" in France was translated into French, German, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Flemish, Serbo-Croat, Danish and Polish, and published in the periodical press and as separate pamphlets in various European countries and the USA. It was repeatedly published in subsequent years....In 1891, when preparing a jubilee German edition of "The Civil War in France" to mark the 20th anniversary of the Paris Commune, Engels once again edited the text of his translation. He also wrote an introduction to this edition, emphasising the historical significance of the experience of the Paris Commune, and its theoretical generalisation by Marx in "The Civil War in France", and also giving additional information on the activities of the Communards from among the Blanquists and Proudhonists. Engels included in this edition the First and Second addresses of the General Council of the International Working Men's Association on the Franco-Prussian war, which were published in subsequent editions in different languages also together with "The Civil War France". (Notes on the Publication of "The Civil War in France" from MECW Volume 22). Only very few copies of the book from 1871 on OCLC are not explicitly stated to be 2nd or 3rd editions, and we have not been able to find a single copy for sale at auctions within the last 50 years.

New-York, 1852. Bound in a later (ab. 1900) red full cloth binding with silver lettering to front board. A bit of wear to capitals, corners, and extremities. Front free end-paper with small repairs and strengthening. A couple of closed tears to blank outer margin of title-page (no loss and not affecting printing)Inner blank margins of the first few leaves strengthened (far from affecting text). Occasionally a few marginal notes. and underlinings. A near contemporary notice in Russian about the work has been inserted between the title-page and the preface. All in all a good copy with no major flaws. IV, (4), 62 pp. The exceedingly scarce first edition of one of the absolutely most important writings by Marx - his seminal essay on the French coup of 1851, which not only constitutes our principal source for the understanding of Marx' theory of the Capitalist state (together with "The Civil War in France"), but which is also the work in which Marx formulates for the first time his view of the role of the individual in history."This work (i.e. "The Eighteenth Brumaire"), written on the basis of a concrete analysis of the revolutionary events in France from 1848 to 1851, is one of the most important Marxist writings. In it Marx gives a further elaboration of all the basic tenets of historical materialism - the theory of the class struggle and proletarian revolution, the state and the dictatorship of the proletariat. Of extremely great importance is the conclusion which Marx arrived at on the question of the attitude of the proletariat to the bourgeois state. He says, - "All revolutions perfected this machine instead of smashing it.". Lenin described it as one of the most important propositions in the Marxist teaching on the state. In The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte Marx continued his analysis of the question of the peasantry, as a potential ally of the working class in the imminent revolution, outlined the role of the political parties in the life of society and exposed for what they were the essential features of Bonapartism." (note 1 in the Preface to the Third German Edition (Engels, 1885) )."The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon" was written between December 1851 and March 1852 and originally published - as it is here - in 1852 in "Die Revolution", a German monthly magazine established by Joseph Weydemeyer and published in New York. In this cornerstone of modern political thought, Marx discusses the French coup of 1851 in which Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte assumed dictatorial powers and does so by treating actual historical events from the viewpoint of his materialist conception of history.Marx states that his purpose with the work is to "demonstrate how the class struggle in France created circumstances and relationships that made it possible for a grotesque mediocrity to play a hero's part" (preface to the second edition, 1869), and he famously formulates his view of the role of the individual in history ("Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past").If one wants to understand Marx' views on the capitalist state, "The 18th Brumaire" is absolutely essential, as it is to the understanding of the nature, the rise, and the meaning of fascism. Among Marxist scholars, there's wide consensus about regarding Louis Bonaparte's coup and rise to power as a forerunner of the fascism that is to emerge the 20th century. In the words of Engels: "The fact that a new edition of "The Eighteenth Brumaire" has become necessary, thirty-three years after its first appearance, proves that even today this little book has lost none of its value. It was in truth a work of genius. Immediately after the event that struck the whole political world like a thunderbolt from the blue, that was condemned by some with loud cries of moral indignation and accepted by others as salvation from the revolution and as punishment for its errors, but was only wondered at by all and understood by none-immediately after this event Marx came out with a concise, epigrammatic exposition that laid bare the whole course of French history since the February days in its inner interconnection, reduced the miracle of December 2 to a natural, necessary result of this interconnection and in so doing did not even need to treat the hero of the coup d'état otherwise than with the contempt he so well deserved. And the picture was drawn with such a master hand that every fresh disclosure since made has only provided fresh proofs of how faithfully it reflected reality. This eminent understanding of the living history of the day, this clear-sighted appreciation of events at the moment of happening, is indeed without parallel. ...In addition, however, there was still another circumstance. It was precisely Marx who had first discovered the great law of motion of history, the law according to which all historical struggles, whether they proceed in the political, religious, philosophical or some other ideological domain, are in fact only the more or less clear expression of struggles of social classes, and that the existence and thereby the collisions, too, between these classes are in turn conditioned by the degree of development of their economic position, by the mode of their production and of their exchange determined by it. This law, which has the same significance for history as the law of the transformation of energy has for natural science - this law gave him here, too, the key to an understanding of the history of the Second French Republic. He put his law to the test on these historical events, and even after thirty-three years we must still say that it has stood the test brilliantly." (Preface to the Third German Edition (Engels, 1885)).The work is incredibly scarce. OCLC lists no more than two copies in libraries world-wide: One in the USA: University of Wisconsin, one in France: Bibliothèque Nationale. We have not been able to locate a single copy at auction over the last 60 years.

Valencia, Francisco Diaz Romano, 1531. 4to (205 x 145 mm). Exquisitely bound in a sumptuous richly blind-ornamented and gilt 20th century full calf binding. Five raised bands, gilt lettering, and smaller gilt decorations to richly blindstamped spine. Boards elaborately blindstamped with frames in different patterns and with smaller dispersed gilt ornamentations. Front board with a large centre-piece, also elaborately blindstamed and with gilt ornamentations, at the center of which the words “Libre de Consells de Jaume Roig” in gilt Gothic lettering. Back board with the same large centre-piece repeated, inside which a gilt centre-illustration (reminiscent of Bacchus) and the words “a bon seny no hi valengan” (Old Catalan for “common sense is not worth it”) in gilt lettering underneath. Binding signed Miquerlius to lower inside of front board. Single gilt line to edges of boards and broad inner gilt dentelles. All edges gilt. Leaf A4 with ink-annotations in contemporary hand. First leaves with marginal repairs and a closed wormtract, with loss of a few letters. Leaves L-O with closed wormtract in upper outer margin. Last leaves with marginal repairs and final leaf (woodcut illustration) with closed tear and a few wormholes, with minor loss of the illustration. With occasional brownspotting and a few leaves evenly browned. Washed. 139, (1) pp. (A-R8, S4) The exceedingly rare first edition of Roig’s magnum opus, his seminal masterpiece of Catalan literature. This satirical work on women offering extensive advice on avoiding their alleged deceptive nature, the pitfalls of marriage, including all the misadventures Roig himself has suffered during four marriages is widely considered one of the most significant pieces of literature in Catalan. The first edition is of the utmost scarcity and hardly ever finds its way into the trade. Salva (author of “Catalogue of Spanish and Portuguese Books with occasional literary and bibliographical remarks”) only knew of two complete copies, and as early as 1735, the book was already so unprocurable that the editor of an attempted reprint had to omit some parts for lack of an early copy. Salva’s own copy is now housed in the British Library, who states: “Scarcely any Spanish book is more rare than this first edition of Roig, of which Carlos Ros, who edited the works of Roig in 1735, was unable to find any copy whatever. It was unknown to Nic. Antonio who quotes the second edition of 1532 as if it was the first”. It was written in 1459-60 and has only survived in one manuscript (MS. Vat. Lat. 4806). During the sixteenth century, however, several editions of Roig’s text were published, although with a modified title: Llibre de consells (Valencia, 1531 and 1532; Barcelona, 1561) and Llibre de les dones me´sverament dit de consells (Valencia, 1561); in recent years, it is often seen referred to as “The Espill” or "The Mirror". While the 15th century saw the emergence of other renowned literary works in Catalan, such as Tirant lo Blanc by Joanot Martorell and the anonymously written Curial e Güelfa, the present work distinguishes itself through its distinctive fusion of realism, social critique, sharp satire and, to some extent, medical knowledge. This combination makes it a remarkable portrayal of the evolving socioeconomic dynamics and cultural attitudes of Valencian society at the time: “(The present work) is mere fiction, but it is full of autobiographical ele­ments and, despite the deformations imposed by the liter­ary genre, it especially offers a very realistic picture of Va­lencian society in the 15th century and specifically of the city of Valencia. Roig describes very precise aspects of the trades and customs of the era and evokes real events which he knew about first-hand. He also furnishes priceless de­tails on the knowledge and profession of medicine. In any event, as Antònia Carré accurately states, “the satirical de­formations and comical inversions of Espill should be un­derstood within the context of Galenic medicine.” (Ferrando, Catalan fiction in the 15th century, p. 37) ”The Espill (1460) (also called Libre de consells (Book of Advice) or Libre de les dones (Book of the Women) by its old publishers) seems to me to be one of the most singular works in 15th-century Valencian art as a consequence of the summa of a series of elements that its author, Jaume Roig (circa 1400-1478), mixes with unusual skill. Thus, its format (a narrative poem that consists of over sixteen thousand tetrasyllabic couplets), its subject matter (a misogynist satire with didactic and moralising contents), its external (a preface and four books divided into four sections) and internal (resort to fictitious autobiography in three of the four books) structures, the medieval traditions that channel the discourse (artes praedicandi, exempla, jokes...), the linguistic and rhetorical registers used (combining colloquial and vulgar language with learned terms), etc. However, Roig’s singularity must be understood equally in the literary context of 15th century Valencia, as interesting interrelations can be established between its creation and some of the most important works and authors of that time, ranging from Joanot Martorell to Joan Roís de Corella, passing through Isabel de Villena. On the other hand, it is also worth highlighting its wider context, for example in relation with its dialogue with the classical and biblical traditions or with the European (and Hispanic) “pro-” and “anti-feminist” debates of the 13th century, as Cantavella has analysed, within which it consolidates scientific and religious references, which are what are of most interest here” (Merida, Sodomy and the Sick Body of Women).In the 15th century, Catalan fiction flourished within the context of the Crown of Aragon's Mediterranean expansion marked by the rise of Valencia as its cultural center, a growing monetary economy, and increased interaction with other European regions, notably Italy, France and Burgundy. This rich environment produced several significant literary works including the present.“In the second half of the 15th century, writers from or imitating the bourgeoisie who liked to cultivate satirical and burlesque stories in verse, often in collaboration with one another, proliferated in Valencia. One of the most prominent was Jaume Roig... His Espill, is much more than a simple mi­sogynistic satire: it is a true novel that quite skilfully de­scribes the most grotesque aspects of the society of his day. (Ferrando, Catalan fiction on the 15th century, p. 37). Although bitter towards women in general, the work culminates in a glorification of the Virgin and finally in a beautiful full-page woodcut of the Virgin and Child with Saints Dorothy and Eulalie and two other saints - considered a masterpiece of the late Spanish Gothic style. Jaume Roig (circa 1400 – 1478) was a Valencian doctor and medical advisor to Dona Maria, wife of Alfonso V. “He studied Medicine and Arts and soon became a prominent doctor in the city, where he combined his medical practice with reading and writing. In 1443 he married Isabel Pellisser with whom he had six children. Jaume Roig's Espill was one of the most important works of the fifteenth century. His writing was in the romantic tradition of narrative in verse, not to mention the misogynist didactic tradition with comic and instructive elements. Espill consists of 16,359 couplets by means of which the narrator addresses his nephew, warning him about the ill-treatment he has received from women and therefore advising him to keep away from the female sex. Divided into an introductory poem, a Preface and four "books", Espill had a great impact in its day, so much so that four editions were published in the sixteenth century.” (Associació d'Escriptors en Llengua Catalana). Palau 275503: "rarissima" Lyell, p. 118: "very rare" Brunet IV, 1356: "fort rare"

Paris, Durand, 1758. Large 4to. Large-paper copy bound in a beautiful contemporary full calf binding with five raised bands to richly gilt spine. Triple gilt line-borders to boards, all edges of boards gilt and inner gilt dentelles. All edges gilt. A stunning, bright, clean, and fresh copy, with minimal wear and no restorations of any kind. Presentation-inscriptions to front free end-paper and to verso of title-page (see description in note below). Large woodcut title-vignette and many smaller vignettes throughout. (4), XXII, 643, (1) pp. + 40 ff. (i.e. the original, uncorrected leaves: pp. 1-16; 35-38; 59-62; 67-70; 75-78; 139-142; 145-154; 169-176; 187-190; 233-34; 227-230; 459-462; 547-550; 603-606 + 2 extra leaves that were printed incorrectly, namely p. 160 - reset & p. 239 - different vignette). Extremely rare first edition, first issue, with manuscript dedication-inscription from the author, of this monumental work of the French Enlightenment. This magnum opus of modern thought is considered the founding work of modern Utilitarianism, as it is here that Helvétius articulates the greatest happiness principle ("the greatest happiness for the greatest number") for the first time and becomes the first to define social welfare upon this utilitarian maxim, directly influencing Bentham and Mill.The materialistic philosophy of Helvétius' "De l'Esprit" also directly influenced Karl Marx, who had studied the work while in Paris and called the ideas presented in it "the social basis of communism"."De l'Esprit" arguably constitutes the greatest "succès de scandale" of Western thought and one of the most influential works of Western philosophy.This magnificent copy is stunning in all ways. It contains all the extremely rare condemned and repressed leaves of the first issue (bound in the back), it is printed on large paper, contemporarily bound (presumably under instruction by Helvétius himself) in a stunning full calf gift binding and with two manuscript ex-dono- (presentation-) inscriptions by Helvétius himself. One of them, on the verso of the title-page, is crossed out, but is still legible (reading "donum auctoris 17 avril 1760 Cl. Helvetius"), the second, on the front free end-paper reads "ex dono auctoris 1761" - thus indicating that Helvétius, who had the copy in his possession, to give away when he felt it appropriate, had first intended to give it away - perhaps late in the year - in 1760, and then ended up giving it away in 1761. The work lost its privilege almost immediately, and even though Hélvetius wrote three retractions, it was still condemned and publicly burnt. In spite of this, Helvétius still kept a few copies of the very first issue, with all the original leaves. According to Smith, 15 copies existed, and as Jacques Guérin also notes, these copies were all intended for his close friends and family (we know for instance that Rousseau received one of the copies). These copies, of which the present is one, are thus of the utmost scarcity. Only one other has been on the market within the last 25 years, namely that of Jacques Guérin, which, however, did not have a dedication-inscription from Helvétius.As Tchermerzine describes, the extremely rare copies of the first issue, which are either without the newly formulated leaves or with the original leaves preserved (our copy has them all!) are between 10 and 60 times as valuable as the later issues, depending on condition - these between 4 and 15 copies are the only ones to contain the 80 revolutionary pages that caused the work to be condemned and burnt and sent Helvétius into exile. Tchermerzine does not, however, account for copies with a presentation-inscription like the present. The work caused an immense uproar, when it appeared. It was considered so heretical, atheistic, and immoral that it lost its privilege within a fortnight; it was heavily condemned by the Church and the State and was burnt by the Hangman, the plan being to destroy all copies of it. Few books in the entire history of printing have been met with such opposition - it was condemned by both the son of Louis XV and the Sorbonne, and the priests succeeded in convincing the court that the doctrines were so dangerous that even though Helvetius wrote three retractions, the book was still publically burned; and when the Encyclopédie of Diderot and d'Alembert was suppressed for the second time, this had much to do with Helvétius' De l'Esprit and the scandal it had caused.This scandalous work, however, gained so much attention that it was almost immediately translated into all European languages, contributing to the immense influence it came to have on all European thought. "The history of Helvetius's De l'esprit (1758), his first major work, is eventful, complicated and paradoxical. No book during the eighteenth century, except perhaps Rousseau's Emile, evoked such an outcry from the religious and civil authorities or such universal public interest. Condemned as atheistic, materialistic, sacrilegious, immoral and subversive, it enjoyed a remarkable succes de scandale. The work lost its privilege within a fortnight of its publication. It was attacked in Church periodicals and in polemical pamphlets, in the literary salons and in popular songs, from bishops' pulpits and from the stage of the Théâtre francais. Though Helvetius retracted his book three times, he was condemned by the Archbishop of Paris (Nov. 1758), the Pope (Jan. 1759), the Parlement of Paris (Feb. 1759), the Sorbonne (Apr. 1759) and by various bishops." (Smith, p. 332)."In "De l'ésprit" (1758), Helvétius follows the Lockean sensationalism of Condillac and pairs it with the claim that human beings are motivated in their actions only by the natural desire to maximize their own pleasure and minimize their pain. "De l'ésprit", though widely read, gives rise to strong negative reactions in the time, both by political and religious authorities (the Sorbonne, the Pope and the Parlement of Paris all condemn the book) and by prominent fellow philosophes, in great part because Helvétius's psychology seems to critics to render moral imperatives and values without basis, despite his best attempts to derive them. Helvétius attempts to ground the moral equality of all human beings by portraying all human beings, whatever their standing in the social hierarchy, whatever their special talents and gifts, as equally products of the nature we share plus the variable influences of education and social environment." (SEP).D. W. Smith, The Publication of Helvetius's De l'esprit, in French Studies, 1968, p. 105.Tschermerzine III:672.

Hamburg, Otto Meisner, 1867. 8vo. Nice contemporary black half calf with gilt spine. Minor wear to hinges and capitals, which have tiny, barely noticeable professional restorations. Inner hinges re-enforced. Contemporary owner's names (Emil Kirchner and Karl Kirchner (1887)) to front free end-paper. Contemporary book-plate to inside of front board (Ernst Ferdinand Kirchner). A very nice copy with just the slightest of occasional brownspotting. Housed in a very nice custom-made black full morocco box with gilt llettering to spine. XII, 784 pp. Scarce first edition of Marx' immensely influential main work, arguably the greatest revolutionary work of the nineteenth century. With its attack on capitalists and capitalist mode of production, this cornerstone of 19th century thought came to determine the trajectory of economics and politics of the Western world. Marx' groundbreaking "Das Kapital" originally appeared in German in 1867, and only the first part of the work appeared in Marx' lifetime. PMM 358.

Paris, Chez Baudouin, Imprimeur de l'Assamblée Nationale, 1789. 8vo. Bound in an exquisite later red half morocco with gilt spine. Top edge gilt. (1) f. (title-page), 8 pp. ("Déclaration des droits de l'Homme en société"), 6 pp. ("Articles de Constitution"), (1) f. ("Réponse du Roi"), (1) f. (blank). Woodcut head-pieces. Title-page slightly bowned, otherwise in excellent condition. A truly excellent copy. The exceedingly scarce true first printing, in an incredibly rare form of off-print/separate printing, of one of the most important and influential documents in the history of mankind, namely the French Human Rights Declaration, containing also the articles for the first French Constitution. This groundbreaking publication constitutes a monumental change in the structure of the human world, providing all citizens with individual rights that we now take for granted. This monument of humanist thought appeared in the "Procès verbal de l'Assemblée Nationale", copies of which are also very difficult to obtain. There, however, the two parts appeared without a title-page and without the final blank, which together constitute a form of wrappers for this off-print/separate printing, of which only five or six other copies are known and which is present in merely one or two libraries world-wide. As far as we now, only one other copy has been on the private market, and that did not have the blank back wrapper. This exceedingly rare separate printing of the Human Rights Declaration, with the Constitution, was intended for the inner circle of those participating in its creation and was limited to a very restricted number of copies - all of which will have been owned by the creators of the Declaration. This epochal document is just as important today as it was when it was formulated during the French Revolution in 1789, and since 2003, the Declaration has been listed in the UNESCO Memory of World Register - "This fundamental legacy of the French Revolution formed the basis of the United Nations Declaration of 1948 and is of universal value". Few other documents in the history of mankind has done as much to determine the way we live and think, the way Western societies are structured and governed, and few other documents have had such a direct impact upon our constitutional rights and the way we view ourselves and others in society. It is here that we find the formulation of liberty and equality upon which so much of Western political and moral thought is based - that all "men are born and remain free and equal in rights" (Article 1), which were specified as the rights of liberty, private property, the inviolability of the person, and resistance to oppression (Article 2); that all citizens were equal before the law and were to have the right to participate in legislation directly or indirectly (Article 6); no one was to be arrested without a judicial order (Article 7); Freedom of religion (Article 10) and freedom of speech (Article 11) were safeguarded within the bounds of public "order" and "law", etc., etc.The content of the document that were to change the Western world for good emerged largely from the ideals of the Enlightenment. "The sources of the Declaration included the major thinkers of the French Enlightenment, such as Montesquieu, who had urged the separation of powers, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who wrote of general will-the concept that the state represents the general will of the citizens. The idea that the individual must be safeguarded against arbitrary police or judicial action was anticipated by the 18th-century parlements, as well as by writers such as Voltaire. French jurists and economists such as the physiocrats had insisted on the inviolability of private property." (Encycl. Britt.).The key drafts were prepared by Lafayette, working at times with Thomas Jefferson. In August 1789, Honoré Mirabeau played a central role in conceptualizing and drafting the Declaration. On August 26, 1789, in the midst of The French Revolution, the last article of the Declaration was adopted by the National Constituent Assembly, as the first step towards a constitution for France. "In 1789 the people of France brought about the abolishment of the absolute monarchy and set the stage for the establishment of the first French Republic. Just six weeks after the storming of the Bastille, and barely three weeks after the abolition of feudalism, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (French: La Déclaration des Droits de l'Homme et du Citoyen) was adopted by the National Constituent Assembly as the first step toward writing a constitution for the Republic of France.The Declaration proclaims that all citizens are to be guaranteed the rights of "liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression." It argues that the need for law derives from the fact that "...the exercise of the natural rights of each man has only those borders which assure other members of the society the enjoyment of these same rights." Thus, the Declaration sees law as an "expression of the general will," intended to promote this equality of rights and to forbid "only actions harmful to the society." (www.humanrights.com). This sensational document became the crowning achievement of the French Revolution; it came to accelerate the overthrow of the "Ancien Régime" and sowed the seed of an extremely radical re-ordering of society. The Declaration interchanged the pre-revolutionary division of society -in the clergy, the aristocracy, and the common people- with a general equality - "All the citizens, being equal in [the eyes of the law], are equally admissible to all public dignities, places, and employments, according to their capacity and without distinction other than that of their virtues and of their talents" (From Article VI), upon which today's society is still based. It is hard to imagine a work that is more important to the foundation of the society that we live in today.

(1822) - 1872. With the present Hans Christian Andersen-collection, we have aimed not at an exhaustive collection of ALL of his many writings nor at a LARGE collection, but at an exquisite, chosen collection that tells us the true story of Andersen's life. A collection that enlightens us about both the author and the man Hans Christian Andersen and that sheds light on all aspects of his life and work. A collection that epitomizes quality, scope, and importance, not merely numbers of items nor works that are not particularly important in his life's work. Every one of the 23 items in the present collection has been carefully chosen to represent a certain Aspect of Hans Christian Andersen at a certain time of his life, in an attempt to get as close to the great fairy tale author as possible. The items basically span his entire career - from his first book, published at the age of 17 (and only known in about 10 copies) to an original manuscript poem by the ageing author at the age of 67. The 23 carefully chosen and unique items cover his earliest publications that are of extreme scarcity, his three seminal fairy tale cycles that catapulted him into fame and created the genre of the fairy tale, for which he is now famous world-wide, five magnificent presentation-copies (among them an absolutely magnificent copy of his very first fairy tale, one of the best presentation-copies known) that each give us an insight into the poet Andersen and into his circle of friends, six splendid original letters that are all different in style and content and written from all over the world (among them one of the extremely rare letters known by him written in English, in Latin hand), an original manuscript, which is an extreme scarcity on private hands and something one may never come by again, two books from Andersen's own library, which is extremely rare to find, as only 75 such books are known and almost all of them are in institutional holdings, and finally the three main translations that ensured his fame in the rest of the world: the most important translations into German, English, and French respectively. The collection is divided into the following seven categories, and below follows a short preview and introduction to each. Upon request, a document with full, elaborate descriptions of each item will be provided. 1. Debuts/earliest publications (see also 3.1.)2. The three fairy tale collections/cycles3. Presentation-copies (see also: 2.3.)4. Letters5. Manuscript6. Books from Andersen's library7. The three main translations1. Debuts/earliest publications1.1. Ungdoms-Forsøg / Gjenfærdet ved Palnatokes Grav, en Original Fortælling; og Alfsol, en original Tragoedie. Ungdoms=Forsøg. Kjöbenhavn, [1822]. The extremely rare first printing of Hans Christian Andersen's first book - with facsimiles of the title-page, the contents-leaf and a further four leaves. The book is exceedingly rare. A title-issue appeared in 1827. No more than about ten copies in all of both the first issue and the title-issue are known to exist - only a couple of them are known in private collections, and less than a handful of copies are known outside of Denmark. The present publication, his first book, is of immense importance to Andersen's life and work and is arguably THE most important piece of Anderseniana. 1.2. Ved min Velgører Provst Gutfelds Død. Slagelse, 1823.The extremely rare first printing of the 1823-issues of this slightly obscure newspaper, which contains Hans Christian Andersen's third publication. This exceedingly rare piece of Anderseniana was published when the master of the fairy tale genre was merely 17 years old, namely in February 1823. The present publication constitutes one of the two pieces of publication that are at the epicentre of the coming-to-be of the greatest poet and author to emerge from Danish soil. This little piece is a heartfelt, almost perfectly stylized poem that constitutes an obituary of Hans Christian Andersen's early benefactor, Gutfeld, who was responsible for Collin accepting to be Andersen's benefactor. It was due to Gutfeld and his belief in Andersen that he made it on into the world and was taken seriously enough - at the mere age of 17 - to later be allowed to follow his heart and his life dream - that of writing.1.3. Fodreise fra Holmens Canal til Østpynten af Amager i Aarene 1828 og 1829. Kjöbenhavn, 1829. The rare first edition of Hans Christian Andersen's debut novel, "Journey on Foot", here in the extremely scarce original printed wrappers. Andersen himself considered this book his debut and refers to it as "my first publication". It came to play a tremendous role in the development of his writing and constitutes one of his most important works. It is the first piece of Andersen that yields any success and the first work for which he gained any recognition. "It is a well-known fact that Hans Christian Andersen made his début as a writer three times during his youth. The first time he published a book was in 1822, when "Youthful Attempts" came out... He was 17 years old, penniless and in need for help, but the main part of the circulation ended up in the paper mill... The second time he made his début was in 1829, when he published "Journey on Foot from Holmen's Canal to the Eastern Point of Amager", a book which can hardly be classified as a travel book.. it seems a subtle and humorous arabesque and a literary satire. This book was published in the year after he had left grammar-school and was qualifying for the entrance examination to academic studies at the university. It can rightly be regarded as a key, which enables us to understand the entire development of his later production...2. The three fairy tale-collections2.1. Eventyr fortalte for Børn. (1.-3. Hefte) + Eventyr fortalte for Børn. Ny Samling (1.-3. Hefte). 2 Bind. Kjöbenhavn, 1835-1847. A lovely set of this exceedingly rare collection of Andersen's earliest fairy tales. This legendary fairy tale-collection that created the fairy tale-genre and brought Andersen international fame, consists in six parts that together make up two volumes. As with most of the other few existing copies, the present set is a mixture of issues and likewise has certain wants concerning title-pages, half-titles and tables of contents. "During Andersen's lifetime 162 of his Fairy Tales were published, but the scarcest and most difficult to obtain are these six little pamphlets. We do not know exactly how many, or how few, copies were printed, but we do know that no copy with all the title pages and tables of contents has ever been offered for sale."2.2. Nye Eventyr. 2 Bind (5 samlinger). Kjøbenhavn, 1844 - 48.First edition of Hans Christian Andersen's seminal second collection of fairy tales - the publication that made him internationally famous - with all five collections in first issue, also the first, which is of the utmost rarity. It is in this legendary first collection that we find the first printing of "The Ugly Duckling"(not as is indicated in PMM in his first). The rarity of the first issue of volume 1, collection 1 is legendary. It was published on November 11th 1843 (dated 1844 on the title-page) in a very small number, probably due to the poor sales of Andersen's first fairy tale collection. Against all belief, this first collection sold out within a few days, catapulting Andersen into worldwide fame, and a second issue was published already on December 21st 1843. Thus, only very few copies of the first issue exist, and almost all collections of the "New fairy Tales" are bound with the second issue or the third of 1847, meaning that they do not contain the actual first printing of "The Ugly Duckling", "The Nightingale", "The Angel", and "The Sweethearts". 2.3. Nye Eventyr og Historier. 3 Series, 10 collections. Kjøbenhavn, 1858-1872.A splendid fully complete copy of Andersen's third fairy tale collection, WITH ALL 10 ISSUES IN FIRST EDITIONS, FIRST ISSUES, ALL IN THE ORIGINAL PRINTED WRAPPERS, AND ONE OF THEM WITH A SIGNED PRESENTATION-INSCRIPTION BY ANDERSEN - WITH 39 FAIRY TALES IN THEIR FIRST PRINTINGS. It is highly uncommon to find all ten issues of the series together, let alone in the original printed wrappers, each of which is a scarcity on their own. To our knowledge, only one other such set exists in a private collection, and that is in far from as fine condition as the present, where all but one of the issues (which does not have the back wrapper) are fully complete with the spines, exactly as issued. 3. Presentation-copies3.1. Digte. Kjöbenhavn, 1830.THE RARE FIRST EDITION - PRESENTATION-COPY, IN THE EXCEEDINGLY SCARCE ORIGINAL PRINTED WRAPPERS - OF ANDERSEN'S THIRD BOOK, CONTAINING HIS FIRST FAIRY TALE. The magnificent presentation-inscription - hitherto unknown and unregistered - is arguably one of the most important Andersen-presentations known to exist. It is inscribed to Henriette Collin, the then fiancée, later wife, of his closest and most important friend, who was more like a brother to him, Edvard Collin. It is one of the very early Andersen-presentations known. This first published collection of Andersen's poetry constitutes Andersen's third published book (at the age of 24) and contains, at the end, the first printing of any of his fairy tales, being also his very first fairy tale "The Ghost" (or "The Spectre"). This is the first time that Andersen uses the term "Eventyr" (fairy tale), the term which came to denote the genre for which he received world-wide fame as one of the most important writers of all time. 3.2. Nye Eventyr. Tredie Samling. Kjøbenhavn, 1845.An excellent presentation-copy of the first edition of the third "collection" of Andersen's second fairy tale-collection, containing five of his best fairy tales in the first printing - among them the cherished tales "The Red Shoes" and "The Shepherdess and the Chimney-Sweep ". Inscribed copies of Andersen's fairy tales are very rare and extremely sought-after. But the present presentation-copy is even more interesting, as it is inscribed to a fellow author of tales for children - "The poet Kaalund/ in kind remembrance/ of our first meeting/ the 29th of April 1845/ from the [NEW FAIRY TALES] (the printed half title) 's author." -in the collection of Andersen's fairy tales that appeared almost simultaneously with Kaalund's renowned "Tales for Children" ("Fabler for Børn"). 3.3. Historier. Anden Samling. Kjøbenhavn, 1853.First edition, in splendid condition, with the original printed wrappers, of the second part of Andersen's "Story"-collection, containing first printings of four of his famous fairy-tales. With a lovely, poetical presentation-inscription to Frederikke Larcher, signed "H.C. Andersen", translated as thus: "I put my bouquet on the board of the stage/ you yourself make the impression of a fresh bouquet". Frederikke Larcher was a stage actress, and Andersen might have given the little book as a gift upon her last performance.3.4. Nye Eventyr og Historier. Anden Række (første samling). Kjøbenhavn, 1861.An excellent copy, in the original printed, illustrated wrappers, of the separately published first part of the second series of "Nye Eventyr og Historier", with a lovely presentation-inscription to the title-page, translating thus "The splendid, the spirited,/ Mrs. Agentinde Renck/ send this bouquet of stories/ from my garden of poetry this spring/ Most heartfelt and respectfully/ H.C. Andersen." This splendid volume contains first printings of one of Andersen's most famous, most beloved and most frequently recounted fairy-tales/stories: "What the Old Man does is Always Right". Apart from that masterpiece of moral story-telling, the present publication contains five other of Andersen's great stories in first printings.3.5. Da Spanierne var her. Originalt romantisk Lystspil i tre Acter. Kjøbenhavn (Copenhagen), 1865. An excellent copy of the first edition of Andersen's famed play, in the scarce original binding and with a magnificent presentation-inscription to Rudolph Kranold, who at the time was director of the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen. His short reign here (until 1866) coincides exactly with the work on and premiere of one of the plays that was very closest to Andersen's heart, namely "When the Spanish were Here", which premiered at the Royal Theatre on April 6, 1865. Reading Andersen's diaries allows us to actually follow the play the entire way through to the stage. It is evident, both from his diaries and from the present presentation-inscription, that the play meant a lot to Andersen. As the inscription indicates, he's anxious that the play not be taken down again and he clearly asks Kranold to take good care of this play that is close to his heart. 4. Letters4.1. Autographed letter, signed in full ("Hans Christian Andersen"), in English, for the Scottish author William Hurton. Dated "Copenhagen 2 October 1851".The present letter is of the utmost interest, as it is written in English (in Andersen's own hand!) and also in Latin letters, as opposed the gothic handwriting that Andersen usually uses. Letters and inscriptions in Andersen's Latin hand are of the utmost scarcity. Out of the few known letters in Andersen's hand, we have even fewer letters by him written in English. He made an exception for William Hurton, to whom a few letters have been preserved, demonstrating his reverence for this Scottishman so fascinated by Andersen himself. Almost all of these letters are in institutional holdings, and the present one on private hands is a true scarcity. 4.2. Autographed letter, signed "H. C. Andersen", for Frederik Bøgh. Dated "Basnæs ved Skjelskjør/ den 3 Juli 1862". 4 pages.This very lengthy letter from Andersen to Frederik Bøgh is interesting in several respects. First of all, Andersen here mentions several of his works: new songs for the revised version of his opera "The Raven", proofreading and numerous comments for the "new edition of Fairy Tales and Stories", and a brand new fairy tale: "Finally, I have written a new fairy tale: "Snowdrop"." Furthermore, Andersen talks about his health and problems he has with his eye as well as the weather and his impending travel plans. It is clear from the letter that he is very close to his young student friend Bøgh. 4.3. Autographed letter, signed "H. C. Andersen", for Frederik Bøgh. Dated "Tanger I Marokko/ den 8 Nov: 1862.".An absolutely splendid letter with rare observations about Moroccan culture, the people, how they dress and behave, the food, the landscape, etc. It is clear that Tanger, with its "wild, romantic nature", its palm trees, its wilderness, the wild boars and hyenas, is very far from the coldness of the North. Andersen's fascination with the "half naked men" and women in horrible dress, with the bare headed Moorish Jews in kaftans, "the naked brown kids that screamed and roared", and the slaves that carry goods, leaps from the pages of the letter and paint a picture of a place that to a Dane in 1862 must seem oddly fascinating and so different. There is no doubt that this rich culture served as direct inspiration for Andersen's story-writing. 4.4. Autographed letter, signed "H. C. Andersen", for Frederik Bøgh. Dated "Toledo den 6 December 1862".A splendid letter from Toledo, which Andersen paints so clearly as only he can. "Toledo is a dead city, but with the life of poetry", he writes, after having described in detail, to his dear friend back home, the ruins and the melancholy that is Toledo. 4.5. Autographed letter, signed "H. C. Andersen", for "Kjære William" (i.e. William Melchior). Dated " Frijsenborg den 27 August/ 1868. ". A lovely, cheerful birthday letter for the young birthday boy William Melchior, who was turning 7 years old. The letter is utterly charming and describes the journey of the birthday letter itself, flying over land and sea, from Jutland to Copenhagen. The letter not only portrays the ease with which Andersen communicates with children, it also constitutes a miniature version of beloved Andersen-stories such as "Little Tuk" and "A Piece of Pearl String". 4.6. Autographed letter, signed "H. C. Andersen", for Frederik Bøgh. Dated " den 9 Maj 1873".This Beautiful little letter for Nicolai Bøgh bears witness to the heartfelt bond that Andersen felt towards his young friend. This little gem of a letter is very poetical - most of it is almost like a poem, describing the sun coming through the clouds and liking the clouds to snow and the heaven to Paradise. Furthermore, Andersen mentions his friends' illness, liking him to a bird that needs to be free. Bøgh had fallen ill the previous year, from an illness that would eventually kill him 9 years later, at the mere age of 45. 5. Manuscript5.1. Original handwritten and signed manuscript for a poem entitled "Stormfloden" (i.e. The Storm or The Storm Surge). November (22nd), 1872. 1 1/2 handwritten pp.Original manuscripts by Andersen are of the utmost scarcity, and only very few are known on private hands. The present is the manuscript for a poem that Andersen wrote just a couple of years before he died and which was published as the preface to a "Christmas Present" by Vilhelm Gregersen in December 1872, just a few weeks after Andersen wrote it. The poem is very dramatic and doomsday-like, but has an uplifting an upbuilding ending. It is inspired by the dramatic storm or storm surge that hit Copenhagen on November 13th, 1872.6. Books from Andersen's Library6.1. F. ANDERSEN, C.J. HANSEN, J.P.E. HARTMANN, P. HEISE and A. WINDING. Ni Fleerstemmige Mandssange. Udgivne af Foreningen "Fremtiden". Kjöbenhavn, 1866.Hans Christian Andersen's own copy, with his ownership signature to the bottom of the front wrapper, of this pamphlet of "Nine Polyphonic Male Songs". The pamphlet contains nine lovely songs written by the greatest Danish authors of the period, set to music by the most famous Danish musicians of the period. Andersen's contribution is the song "Hun har mig glemt" (She Has me Forgotten), which he had printed for the first time in 1854, but in a different version, with different wording. Here, it is set to music by F. Andersen. 6.2. G.h. [GEORG EMIL BETZONICH]. En Kjærligheds-Historie. Fortælling. Kjøbenhavn, 1862.A truly rare example of a book that has belonged to Andersen, with a long presentation-inscription from the author to Hans Christian Andersen to front free end-paper, dated on Andersen's 58th birthday. The author of the novel Georg Emil Betzonich (1829 - 1901) is not a famous author today, nor was he very famous at the time. It is interesting, however, that Andersen kept his book in his library. The book passed to Edvard Collin, who inherited Andersen's entire estate, when Andersen died in 1875, and also Collin kept it. It was sold at the auction of his belongings in 1886.7. The three main Translations7.1. Jugendleben und Träume eines Italienischen Dichters. Nacch H.C. Andersens Dänischen Original: Improvisatoren. Ins Deutsche übertragen von L. Kruse. 2 Theile. Hamburg, August Campe, 1835.The very rare first edition of the first German translation of Andersen's first novel, "Improvisatoren", being the first of Andersen's books to be translated into any foreign language. It is fair to say that no other translation before or after was as important to Andersen as the present. Before the work even appeared, Andersen had a list of recipients for the German translation. Among these was Adalbert Chamisso, to whom he wrote in April 1835: "Here I send you my Italian son; he speaks the German language, so your family can also understand him. I wish that in the great Germany people will be aware of my book and that I may deserve that awareness. That Kruse is introducing me as an author of novels should be somewhat of a recommendation;… For making such an effort of being known outside of little Denmark, I think, I cannot be blamed." 7.2. Danish Fairy Legends and Tales. (Translated by Caroline Peachey). London, William Pickering (Chiswick), 1846.The very rare first edition - ANDERSEN'S CLOSE FRIEND HENRIETTE SCAVENIUS' (BORN MOLTKE) COPY - of this highly important Andersen-translation, which contains the very first appearance in English of some of Andersen's most famous and beloved fairy tales: "The Emperor's New Clothes, "The Nightingale", "The Wild Swans", "The Buck-Wheat" and "The Dustman", and for the first time we here find the titles "The Ugly Duckling" (previously called "The Ugly Duck") and "The Real Princess" (previously called "The Princess and the Peas").7.3. Contes pour les enfants. Traduit du Danois par V. Caralp. Illustrations à deux teintes par Derancourt. Paris, Morizot, (1848).Extremely scarce first edition of the first translations of any of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales to appear in French. This first French Andersen-collection constitutes the introduction of Hans Christian Andersen's works in French literature, the introduction of the fairy-tale-genre in France, and a cornerstone in the history French children's literature.