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(Paris), Gallimard, (1943). Bound with the original printed wrappers, also the backstrip, in a contemporary (no later than 1955) beautiful, very elegant grey half morocco binding with five raised bands and gilt title to spine (Gemet&Plumbelle). A beautiful, near mint copy. The seminal first edition, presentation-copy for Claude Gallimard, one of 15 large paper copies, of Sartre's groundbreaking play, "The Flies", which constitutes his very first play as well as the only one he himself characterized as a "drama". The first edition appeared in 15 copies on pur fil and 525 regular copies. The 15 copies on pur fil are not numbered (presumably because the issue was so small and there were no other copies on fine paper made), but the back wrapper states ("EXEMPLAIRE SUR PUR FIL/ 60 francs"). "Gallimard, [1943]. 145 pages. 15 exemplaires pur fil et 525 exemplaires reliés Héliona dont l'achevé d'imprimer est de décembre 1942. Volume mis en vente en avril 1943." (Contat & Rybalka, p. 88).The magnificent presentation-inscription which reads as thus: "A Claude Gallimard/ en hommage amical de/ JPSartre" ("Gallimard" is vague, as someone (presumably Gallimard himself, or his family, when selling the copy) has tried to erase it, as is often done with identifiable names when trying to hide the provenance, but it is still fully legible) is for Sartre's publisher, Claude Gallimard (1914-1991), the son of Gaston Gallimard. Claude Gallimard worked in the family publishing company since 1937."The Flies" counts as Sartre's most important play as well as one of his most important works. It is a dramatical exposition of his central philosophical themes and a main exponent for his existentialism. As such it is also one of the most important plays of the 20th century. It is in 1943, with "The Flies" and with "l'Étre et le Néant" (same year) that Sartre's ideas become fully developed, and of the two, "The Flies" had, by far, the greatest impact on contemporary thought, philosophy, and literature. The work thus constitutes one of the most important and influential works of the period. Following its premiere (June 3rd 1943) in the "Théatre de la Cité" in Paris, the play was censored by the German military administration. Almost immediately after the war, the play was performed again, in Germany as well as in France. Contat & Rybalka: 43/35 (pp. 88-89).

's Gravenhaage, Isac van der Kloot, 1729. Large folio. (57 x 34 cm.). Bound uncut (!) in 2 contemp. hcalf. 6 raised bands. Titlelabels with gilt lettering. Wear to spine-ends. A small stamp on foot of title-pages. Title-pages printed in red/black. Engraved titlevignettes. Some engraved vignettes. (6 - incl. half-title),LX,147;(4),358 pp. With in all 90 engraved plates, mostly folded and double-page (or more), including 10 maps, 1 portrait (Eugene), 79 plates (including the 12 famous plates of battlescenes). 5 folded tables. As it is bound uncut the copy is wide-margined, clean and printed on good paper. First Dutch edition, published the same year as the French "Histoire Militaire du Prince Eugene de Savoye... etc.", and with the same engravings. This fine and monumental work describes and depicts the wars of Prince Eugene de Savoye, the Duke of Marlborough and the Prince of Nassau, in Italy, Hungary, Germany, The Netherlands and against the Turcs. The 10 engraved maps are engraved by Hubert Iallot, Covens & Mortier, Guillaume de L'Isle etc. The very detailled panoramas of war scenes, include the fine and famous series made by Jan Huchtenberg (Huchtenberg, Pinxit et excudit). Prince Eugene's almost invariable success on the battle-field raised the reputation of the Austrian army to a point which it never reached either before or since his day. War was with him a passion. Always on march, in camps, or on the field of battle during more than fifty years, and under the reigns of three emperors, he had scarcely passed 2 years together without fighting.

Parma, Galeazzo Rosati, 1688. 4to. In contemporary (original?) cardboardbinding with title in contemporary hand to spine. Occassional brownspotting, primarily to first and last leaves, throughout in margins. Hinges a bit worn, otherwise a nice and completely unsophisticated copy. (4) ff. including half-title, 135 pp. + engraved frontiespiece and 6 plates of Athens, of which one is folded. [folding city plan of Athens, the Temple of Theseon, The Lantern of Demosthenes, The Temple of the Winds, The Temple of Minerva (ie the Parthenon), a bust of Ceres]. Rare first edition of Magni’s important account of Athens, constituting one of the earliest descriptions from the modern era to present accurate eyewitness illustrations of Athen’s legendary monuments. Magni was part of the Embassy of Marquis de Nointel to the Ottoman court and the present publication is the first published, however unoffical, account of any part of this voyage. Charles-Marie-François Olier, marquis de Nointel, was the French ambassador to the Ottoman court of Mehmed IV, from 1670 to 1679. By June 1673, he had achieved a reduction in customs charges, putting France on equal terms with England and Holland and giving new life to French commerce in the Levant. The project of placing Christians and Christian institutions under French patronage was less successful, resulting in numerous actions at law. In September 1673, Nointel made a tour to enregister these new prerogatives; it took him to Chios, the Cyclades, Palestine, and Egypt, ending in Athens. It lasted seventeen months.Nointel brought a painter and draughtsman, who made over 500 drawings of towns, antiquities, ceremonies, and examples of local fetes and customs in Asia Minor, Greece and Palestine. Nointel’s personal account of the Parthenon and Carrey’s drawings, however, remained unpublished until the mid-nineteenth century, which makes Magni’s present work the earliest published account the embassy of marquis de Nointel. “After the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the Turkish conquest of Greece a few years later, Athens, and the Acropolis in particular, became virtually inaccessible to foreigners. For inspiration and examples from the classical past, the architects of the Renaissance thus relied on Roman ruins, which, though regarded as mere imitations of the Greek originals, were readily visible throughout Europe […] The rich vocabulary of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century architecture was developed without reference to the actual architecture of Greece, over time, the glories of Rome were accepted by many as the real source of inspiration for contemporary architecture and extolled as such.” (Roy, The Ruins of the Most Beautiful Monuments of Greece). OCLC locates 6 copes: 3 in the US and 3 in Europe.

Amsterdam, Apud Ioannem Blaeu, 1668. 4to. All eight parts bound in two excellent, contemporary full vellum bindings with yapp edges and neat handwritten titles to spines. Some sections of leaves quite browned, due to the paper quality, but the greater part of the leaves (and all the plates) is crisp and bright. An excellent copy. Woodcut printer's device to title-page, woodcut initials an vignettes, woodcut and engraved text-illustrations (diagrams). (4) pp., folded engraved portrait of Hobbes (W. Faithorne sculp)folded, 40 pp. + pp. 40,b-m, pp. 41-44 + 2 plates; 146 pp. + 1 blank + 1 plate; (8), 261, (1) pp. + 1 blank + 13 plates; 86 pp. + 1 blank + 8 plates; (16), 174 pp. + 1 blank; 42 pp. + 1 blank + 1 plate; 64 pp + 5 plates; (4), 365, (15 - Indices, incl. errata and "Scripturae Sacrae") pp. + 1 blank. - I.e. fully complete, with all 30 folded, engraved plates (depicting diagrams), all half-titles, and all blanks. Conforming exactly to the Macdonald&Hargreaves collation (our copy without the "Quadratura Circuli", which, according to Macdonald&Hargreaves, is "probably a later insertion", but which "is included in some copies and has a title-page of it's own". Copies without this part, which does not actually belong to the edition, are early and more desireable. Most copies have this later inserted part and thus 31 plates). The extremely scarce first edition of the first collected edition of Hobbes' works, being the most desirable, the most sought-after and by far the most important. It is to this collected edition that one still refers when quoting Hobbes' works academically. It is furthermore here that Hobbes' seminal main work, Leviathan, appears for the first time in Latin.It is a great rarity to find all eight parts of this seminal edition, all of which were probably also sold separately from the printer, together and complete. Another edition of the work appeared later the same year, also with Amsterdam, Blaeu imprint, but actually printed in London. That edition, which is the one found in most library-holdings, is much more common and far less desireable, albeit still rare. "Il faut voir si les huit parties indiquées sur un f. après le frontispiece sont réunies dans l'exempl. Il y a une édit. moins complète faite à Londres, sous la même dat; on y lit sur le frontispice, après le nom de Blaeu: "prostant etiam Londini apud Corn. Bee". Le portrait de Hobbes, par Faithorne, a été ajouté à quelques exemplaires." (Brunet III:239-40)."According to Macdonald&Hargreaves, "[t]here seems to be no uniformity in the order of arrangement of the eight sections of this work. We have seen three (2 vol.) copies bound in the order given on *2r (q.v. in contents) and have arranged the collaction the same way." Our copy is bound in exactly this way. The hugely important "Opera Philosophica... Omnia", or "Opera Omnia" as it is often referred to, constitutes Hobbes' only successful attempt to have his philosophy published during the period. In 1662 the Licensing Act, a statute requiring that all books had to be approved in advance of publication by the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Bishop of London, was enforced, after which Hobbes found himself completely barred from having his political, theological, and historical works published. After his hugely successful 1668 Latin "Opera Omnia", printed in Amsterdam, he did not dare publish his works abroad either, however, and the "Opera Omnia" remained the only important philosophical or political work of his to be published during the period. It was a great sales success. The most important part of the 8 part comprising "Opera Omnia" is the 378 page long final part, which constitutes the editio princeps of the Latin translation of Hobbes' groundbreaking main work, the work from which the "social contract" theory originates, his seminal "Leviathan. "The Latin "Leviathan" was published towards the end of 1668 within the framework of an edition of Hobbes's collected Latin works, the so-called "Opera Omnia" [i.e. Opera Philosophica... Omnia], published with Johan Blaeu in Amsterdam. "Leviathan, sive De Metria, Forma, & Potestate Civitatis Ecclesisticae et Civilis. Authore Thoma Hobbes, Malmesburiensi" is the eighth and last piece of this collection and the only one published there (in Latin) for the first time; it is therefore the only text to receive (on its last page) a list of errata. The three chapters making up an "Appendix ad Leviatham" (and replacing the "Review and Conclusion" of the English edition) need not detain us here, as they are proper to the Latin version. We only want to note in passing that the few translations from the English "Leviathan" contained in the last chapter of his "Appendix" was worked out independently of the translation and in fact prior to it." (Rogers, Karl Schuhmann, "Thomas Hobbes Leviathan, Vol. 1", p. 241).Not only is this the first Latin edition of Hobbes' main work, it is furthermore of great importance to the study of the Leviathan and to the understanding of the development of Hobbes' thought. All later editions of the Latin version of "Leviathan" are greatly corrected and none of them appear in the same version as the present one, which provides us with the text in the form that comes closest to what Hobbes himself desired his masterpiece to be. "[...] Given these results, we may conclude that LL [i.e. the 1668 Latin Leviathan] should be counted an important source for the text of the English "Leviathan". LL is definitely more than a translation that teaches us little or nothing about the text translated. On the contrary, it is based on an independent manuscript copy of "Leviathan", and more specifically on a copy Hobbes had kept with him all the time and had apparently continued to annotate and correct. The variants of LL must therefore be treated with the greatest care wherever there are textual problems in "Leviathan", and not only in those cases in which the text of all English versions is defective. Even where it is a matter of deciding between given variants, LL should have an important, if not decisive voice. Given the fact that LL was worked out integrally by Hobbes at a rather late date, it must also be considered to contain his last decisions regarding the text as a whole. (Rogers, Karl Schuhmann, "Thomas Hobbes Leviathan, Vol. 1", p. 249).Soon after this first Latin edition, many others appeared:"So far, when speaking of LL [i.e. Leviathan in the Latin version] and quoting this work, we have always and only been referring to its 1668 edition as published within Hobbes' "Opera Omnia". But there were also other editions after that date. The first of these appeared in 1670 as a separate edition. It has, unsurprisingly the same imprint as the 1668 edition, for it was published as before with Johan Blaeu, who only added to the title page the bibliographical information "Amstelodami, Apud Joannem Blaeu. M.DC.LXX." Another separate edition was published "Londini. Apud Johannem Tomsoni. M.DC.LXXVI." and a third one, also with John Thom(p)son, "Londini Typis Joannis Thomsonii, M.DC.LXXVIII."." (Rogers, Karl Schuhmann, "Thomas Hobbes Leviathan, Vol. 1", p. 250).Macdonad&Hargreaves: 104; Brunet III:239-40.

Leipzig, Weidmanns Erben und Reich, 1787. 4to. Uncut in the original interrim boards. Small exlibris-stamp (J. L. Prevost) to front free end-paper. Light brownspotting throughout. An excellent unsophisticated copy. (4), 77, (1) pp + 11 plates (by S. Capieux). First edition of Chladni’s landmark work on the production of sounds from solid bodies, inaugurating the field of acoustics. Here, he demonstrated the method by sprinkling sand on plates of glass or metal and drawing a bow down their sides to produce a visible vibration pattern called "Chladni figures” or “Chladni patterns”. "The production of sound from solid bodies was not clearly understood until Chladni devised the method of sand figures to illustrate the structure of vibrations in a solid body" (Norman). Chladni "was the first to reduce the general association between vibration and pitch to a tabular basis and thus to lay the foundation of the modern science of acoustics" (PMM). In his famous 1787-experiment, Chladni drew a bow over a piece of centrally fixed metal plate covered with sand, and the vibration of the plate caused the sand to move and accumulate around the nodal lines where the surface remained still, forming Chladni figures. The experiments by Chladni are a corner stone of modern acoustics. However, the motion of particles before they settle to the nodal lines is still not very well understood, and only hypothetical models have been put forward. Chladni had visited the Paris Academy in 1808 and had demonstrated the vibration patterns before an audience that included not only the leading French scientists but Napoleon himself; Napoleon set a prize for the best mathematical explanation but no satisfactory explanations came out of it. Napoleon famously remarked "Chaldni mhas made sound visible" (Dibner). Variations of this technique are still commonly used in the design and construction of acoustic instruments such as violins, guitars, and cellos. Since the 20th century, it has become more common to place a loudspeaker driven by an electronic signal generator over or under the plate to achieve a more accurate adjustable frequency. In quantum mechanics, Chladni figures ("nodal patterns") are known to be related to the solutions of the Schrödinger equation for one-electron atoms, and the mathematics describing them was used by Erwin Schrödinger to arrive at the understanding of electron orbitals.Dibner 150PMM 233Norman 480Sparrow 39

Nürnberg, Johann Leonhard Schrag, 1812-1813-1816. 3 vols. 8vo. Bound in three lovely contemporary uniform (!) green half calf bindings with gilt spines. Very minor, excellently executed and barely noticeable professional restorations to small pieces of spines and boards. A magnificent set in lovely contemporary, uniform bindings. Some brownspotting as usual. Housed in a custom-made marbled paper cassette. XIV (= title-page + Vorrede + Inhalt), XXVIII (= Einleitung), 334; VI (= title-page + Inhalt), 282; (2 = general title-page stating second volume of Wissenschaft der Logik), X (= title-page, Vorbericht + Inhalt), 403, (1) pp. The scarce first editions of all three volumes that together constitute Hegel's second main work, his "Science of Logic", also called his "Greater Logic" (as opposed to the Logic section of the Encyclopaedia), in which logic is seen as the science of pure thought, concerning the principles by which concepts are formed, and therefore also as that which reveals to us the principles of pure knowing. THIS IS THE RAREST OF ANY OF HEGEL'S MAJOR WORKS TO FIND COMPLETE - IT IS A TRUE SCARCITY TO FIND A SET IN UNIFORM, CONTEMPORARY BINDINGS. Hegel's "Logic" is begun five years after his first major work, the "Phänomenologie des Geistes", and the five years which Hegel has had to develop his philosophy in the meantime are clearly reflected in his monumental second masterpiece. The "Logic" can be regarded as a more systematic and well organized epistemological and ontological work. It is in this groundbreaking work of German Idealism that Hegel develops his famous dialectic, which comes to determinate all later reading of his philosophy. It is Hegel's dialectic theory later condensed as "thesis-antithesis-synthesis" that is developed in this main work of 19th century philosophy. The dialectical process constitutes the movement of thought and consciousness, from basic to complex ideas, and thus demonstrates how the categorical infrastructure of thought can be laid bare by thought itself alone. With this work, Hegel is considered as having created a revolution in the understanding of Logic, because he widens it from being merely concerned with formal rules of propositions to including all of humanity. He elaborates the laws that govern the development of human practice, and as a consequence, he also uncovers the objective laws that govern the entire objective material world. Throughout the 20th century, Hegel's logical philosophy was largely neglected, but the last 40-50 years have shown a revived interest in this most fundamental of works, which is of the greatest importance for the understanding of his systematic thought.Hegel himself considered his "Logic" to be of the utmost importance, and he kept revising it throughout the years. It is very difficult to find a set of all three volumes in first editions.

Lutetiae (i.e. Paris), (? Guillaume Morel for) Henri Estienne (II), 1554. 4to. Contemporary limp vellum with remains of ties to boards. Remains of contemporary paper labels to spine and traces of autor in ink in contemporary hand, also to spine.A few smaller worm tracts to boards and a bit of spotting, but overall very nice. A large spot to title-page, presumably erased ink, from the removal of an old owner's name. The spot is in the blank margin, close to the printer's device, but not touching it. Apert from that internally very nice with only light occasional damp staining or browning. Old ink note in Greek characters to front free end-paper and a small note (referring also to "Lyra") on A(1)r. A very nice copy with large margins. Woodcut printer's device to title-page, woodcut headpiece and opening initial. Magnificently printed in all three sizes of the famous "grecs du roi"-type. (8), 110 pp. Rare first edition of the groundbreaking Anacreon-volume by H. Estienne, being the milestone publication that not only constitutes the first book by the brilliant Henri Estienne II, but also the extremely influential editio princeps of the Anacreontea. Furthermore, this groundbreaking publication contains Sappho’s now immortal Aphrodite-hymn, being the very first of any of Sappho’s poems to appear in print (here for the second time in print) as well as the magnificent “Midnight poem” (fragment 168B), establishing for the first time since antiquity the gathering together of poems by Sappho: “A momentous point in her transmission. Yet it is ironic that the first collection of a fragmentary Greek poet known and admired beyond any other today should have appeared as a mere appendix to a book dedicated to another author entirely, without even her name on the title-page.” (Cambridge Companion to Sappho, p. 251). The impact that Sappho - “mother of all women poets” - would eventually come to have upon modern poetry and society was not yet known to Estienne and his contemporaries, for whom she was more or less unknown. Estienne, however, recognized the value of the poems of hers that he had encountered and with the publication of them in the present volume began a tradition that would eventually cause her to become arguably the most celebrated Greek poet of all time. “Estienne’s edition of Anacreon’s poetry was enthusiastically received by the Pléiade poets, which considerably boosted Sappho’s influence on western European literature”. (van Dijk: I Have Heard about You, p. 37). This beautifully printed slim volume constitutes an outright Renaissance sensation. “The “Anacreaonta” became the most influential “ancient” Greek poetic text during the Renaissance, and Estienne’s “editio princeps” virtually caused a poetic revolution, not only in France, but also in Italy and Germany – where this influence culminated in the 18th century with the Anacreontic Poets (“Die Anakreontiker”).” (Schreiber 139). Henri Estienne II – “in many ways the greatest member of the Estienne dynasty, and most certainly its most prolific scholar” (Schreiber) - had travelled extensively through Italy, the Low Countries, and England, in search of Greek manuscripts. It is from one of these that he had printed (possibly by Guillaume Morel) his first book, this editio princeps of the Anacreaontea, which is thus also the first book to bear his imprint. Henri Estienne, along with his contemporaries, believed the work to contain the ancient Greek lyrics of the poet Anakreon (6th century BC), whose poems, are not extant, except for some short fragments. In fact, the poems contained in this volume constitute the Anacreontea, which is a collection of Greek lyric poems written in the style and imitation of Anacreon, at various dates. “Henri’s publication of these “ancient” Greek lyrics caused an immediate literary sensation in France, and was celebrated and immortalized by Ronsard, in an oft-quoted passage of his “Odes”.” (Schreiber). Henri Estienne started out his publishing career with this magnificent publication that catapulted him into fame, and he went on to become one of the most influential literary and scholarly figures of the second half of the 16th century in Europe; he dominated Renaissance scholarship with his magnificent publications and has arguably not been superseded by any publisher since. The young Henri Estienne had discovered the present poems in Louvain, in a manuscript owned by an Englishman named John Clements, who was a friend of Thomas More. Their publication “was a sensation of the first class and the starting-point for a new branch of modern literature” (R. Pfeiffer: History of Classical Scholarship”, p. 109). “This first edition was greeted with tremendous enthusiasm by the members of the Pléiade, who, like everyone else, believed the poems genuine, and each of whom immediately translated or imitated some of the “Anacreontea”.” (Schreiber). The poems may not have been “genuine” Anacreon-poems, but the influence that the publication of them came to exercise was no less profound than had they been; the mark they have left of modern literature is difficult to compare to anything else. The printing of the original Greek text, in all three sizes of the magnificent “grecs du roi”-type, is followed by the first Latin translation of the poems, done by Estienne himself, and by Estienne’s own commentary. The text of this editio princeps has been followed by almost every subsequent editor, and today the name Anacreon cannot be mentioned without thinking of Estienne. After the Anacreon-poems themselves, are two leaves containing first, poems by Alkaios, and second, the two famous poems by Sappho: The Ode to Aphrodite (fragment 1) and the Midnight Poem (fragment 168B, also known as “The Moon Sets”), constituting a momentous point in the Sappho-transmission, namely the first time since antiquity that anyone had gathered together poems by her. Soon after, more Sappho-collections would appear causing her to eventually become the most admired Greek poet. “In a recent article, R. Aulotte… shows how Sappho’s influence on the poets dates from the time when Henri Estienne published the odes then known along with his famous edition of Anacreon. His first edition, published in 1554, contained the “Ode to Aphrodite” and the fragment “The Moon has Set”.” (Mary Morrison: Henri Estienne and Sappho, in: Bibliothèque d’Humanisme et Renaissance T.24, N.2 (1962), p. 388). "From time immemorial women poets have had only one norm, one touchstone: Sappho, the legendary woman poet who lived on the island of Lesbos in the Aegean sea in the 6th century BC. … The Sappho figure is the peg on which views of female poetic genious and female sexuality have been hung, century after century.” (Suzanne van Dijk: I Have Heard about You…, p. (35) ). Dibdin I: 258 (“A beautiful and rare edition”); Schreiber: 139; Renouard: 115.

Londini Scanorum (Lund), Adami Junghaus - Vitus Haberegger, 1672. 4to. Contemporary full calf with double blindstamped borders to boards. Spine restored and hinges weak. Otherwise very nice. Title-page dusty and with a little weakness in the paper, presumably from a removed book-plate on the blank part of verso. Last secion of leaves with some light worming to upper blank margin, far from affecting text. All in all a very nice and clean copy with unusually good margins. Old owner's name to top of title-page. Title-page printed in red/black. (20), 1227,(9) pp. Scarce first edition of Pufendorf's magnum opus, one of the fundamental works of natural law. In this milestone work of political and legal thought, Pufendorf presents his system of universal law, which profoundly revised the natural law theories of Hobbes and Grotius. In his teaching, that the will of the state is but the sum of the individual wills that constitute it, he shows himself a precursor of Rousseau and of the "Social Contract"."It is a complete system of public, private and international law. Against Hobbes's view he contended that the state of nature was one of peace, not war, and heurged the view that international law... existed between all nations... [a work] of great importance" (David Walker, The Oxford Companion to Law)."In the 'De jure naturae et gentium' Pufendorf took up in great measure the theories of Grotius and sought to complete them by means of the doctrines of Hobbes and of his own ideas. His first important point was that natural law does not extend beyond the limits of this life and that it confines itself to regulating external acts. He disputed Hobbes's conception of the state of nature and concluded that the state of nature is not one of war but of peace. But this peace is feeble and insecure, and if something else does not come to its aid it can do very little for the preservation of mankind.As regards public law Pufendorf, while recognizing in the state (civitas) a moral person (persona moralis), teaches that the will of the state is but the sum of the individual wills that constitute it, and that this association explains the state. In this a priori conception, in which he scarcely gives proof of historical insight, he shows himself as one of the precursors of Rousseau and of the Contrat social. Pufendorf powerfully defends the idea that international law is not restricted to Christendom, but constitutes a common bond between all nations because all nations form part of humanity." (Encyclopedia Brit.).Collijn: p. 744.

(Leipzig, Johann Ambrosius Barth), 1924. 8vo. Offprint from "Annalen der Physik" IV. Folge, Bd. 74, 1924. With the author's presentation inscription to upper right corner of first leaf: "Hrn. Dr. Faxeén mit / best. Empfehl. d. verf.". Stapled spine with rust slightly affecting surrounding paper. A very fine and clean copy. Pp. (1), 578-627. First edition in the exceedingly rare offprint - with a most attractive presentation-inscription from Heisenberg to Swedish Hilding Faxén, an important contributor to the field - of Heisenberg's doctoral dissertation on the stability and turbulence of fluid flow, which "involved an approximate solution of the complicated equations governing the onset of hydrodynamic turbulence"(David C. Cassidy). It is widely regarded as being "the most important early paper devoted to this subject". (Yaglom, Hydrodynamics Instability and Transition to Turbulence).Hilding Faxén (1892 - 1970), Swedish physicist, received his doctorate in 1921 at Uppsala University with his thesis on "the influence of the container walls on the resistance against movement by a small ball in a viscous fluid". He formulated several basic equations mainly in hydrodynamics; the Faxén integral, the Faxén laws, the Faxén theorems and the Faxén-Waller theory.Heisenberg and Faxén most likely met at the Institute of Theoretical Physics at the University of Copenhagen (Directed by Niels Bohr) where Heisenberg, From 17 September 1924 to 1 May 1925, studied under an International Education Board Rockefeller Foundation fellowship. Despite Sommerfeld's positive evaluation of Heisenberg's thesis - "In the handling of the present problem, Heisenberg shows once again his extraordinary abilities: complete command of the mathematical apparatus and daring physical insight" (Arnold Sommerfeld, evaluation of the thesis, 1923) -, the oral presentation did not go as Heisenberg could have hoped for:"Acceptance of the dissertation brought admission of the candidate to the final orals, where in this case trouble began. The examining committee consisted of Sommerfeld and Wien, along with representatives in Heisenberg's two minor subjects, mathematics and astronomy. Much was at stake, for the only grades a candidate received were those based on the dissertation and final oral: one grade for each subject and one for overall performance. The grades ranged from I (equivalent to an A) to V (an F).As the 21-year-old Heisenberg appeared before the four professors on July 23, 1923, he easily handled Sommerfeld's questions and those in mathematics, but he began to stumble on astronomy and fell flat on his face on experimental physics. In his laboratory work Heisenberg had to use a Fabry-Perot interferometer, a device for observing the interference of light waves, on which Wien had lectured extensively. But Heisenberg had no idea how to derive the resolving power of the interferometer nor, to Wien's surprise, could he derive the resolving power of such common instruments as the telescope and the microscope. When an angry Wien asked how a storage battery works, the candidate was still lost. Wien saw no reason to pass the young man, no matter how brilliant he was in other fields." (Cassidy, Uncertainty).The result was that Heisenberg received the lowest of three passing grades in physics and the same overall grade (cum laude) for his doctorate, both of which were an average between Sommerfeld's highest grade and Wien's lowest grade.There is an interesting epilogue to the story. When Heisenberg derived the uncertainty relations several years later, he used the resolving power of the microscope to derive the uncertainty relations - and he still had difficulty with it. When Bohr pointed out the error, it led to emotional difficulties for Heisenberg. Likewise, this time a positive result came off the affair: Heisenberg's reaction induced Bohr to formulate his own views on the subject, which ultimately led to the so-called Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum mechanics.Heisenberg was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1932 "for the creation of quantum mechanics, the application of which has, inter alia, led to the discovery of the allotropic forms of hydrogen".Faxén was appointed professor of mechanics at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, where he remained until his retirement in 1958. In 1948 he was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.Cassidy 1924b.

Nürmberg, Gabriel Heyn, 1558. Folio. Bound in a nice later (around 1840) hcalf. Raised double bands. Gilt spine. Gilt lettering. Marbled endpapers. Stamps on foot of title-page. A sort of frontispiece (full-page) is printed on the verso of the title-page, depicting the Putto as the spirit of architecture.Title-page printed in red and black. Dedication and content (4 unnumb.lvs.) - Geometry & Perspective (Ff I-C ) - Geometrischen Büchsenmeisterei (Ff I-XLVIII.) - Befestigung (Ff I-XLIIII ) - Geometrischen Messung (Ff (4),I-XLVI,(3)) - Wag und Gewicht (Ff I-XVII) - Schnelwagen (Ff I-X) ending with colophon and woodcut printer's device. Having more than 300 (many full- and half page) fine wood-engravings executed by V. Solis, G. Pencz, H. Brosamer and Peter Floetner. Internally in extraordinary fine clean condition with only a few minor scattered brownspots. 3 leaves with a minor repair to upper right corner. Scarce second edition (the first 1547) of this profusely illustrated encyclopedia of applied Renaissance mathematics and mechanics."This rare work, which unknown to Poggendorff, Brunet, Ebert and other bibliographers...is remarkable for its numerous fine woodcuts, is full of suggestions, and would well deserve the attention of the historian of physics, who seems to have quite neglected it, owing probably to its great rarity. In the section on ballistics it is of interest to find that the author assigns a curve to the path of a projectile against the hitherto accepted Aristotelian opinion that the latter travels in a straight line and falls vertically after its energy is expended." (Sotheran). - In the work many measuring- and surveying instruments are described and depicted. Ryff is well-known for his medical books and the first German translation of Vitruvius.Wellcome I: 5670 (Ed. 1547). - Adams R,606 (same collation) - Cockle, 661 (Ed. 1547)

Vivis, 1842. 8vo. Contemporary modest half cloth with marbled paper over boards. Wear to extremities. Old owner's name to title-page. Occasional brownspotting. XII, (2), 264 pp. Rare first edition of one of the greatest works of communism, Weitling's extremely influential main work, which came to be known as "the debut of the German workers" (Marx). Published a full six years before "The Communist Manifesto", Weitling's "Guarantees of Harmony and Freedom" arguably constitutes the foundational work of Communism, and it is not by chance that Engels names Weitling "The founder of German Communism" (Engels 1975 [1843], p. 402) and Marx characterizes this work as the "brilliant debut of the German workers" and the "gigantic first steps of the proletariat". Considered the first real Communist, Weitling was a communist before both Marx and Engels. He was the founder of the League of the Just (Bund der Gerechten - really the first international communist organisation with branches in Germany, France, Switzerland, Hungary and Scandinavia) that Marx and Engels joined and turned into the Communist League and signatory to early statements by the executive of the First International. Having been so admired by Marx and Engels after the publication of the present magnum opus, he later fell out with them after a struggle in 1846-47, over the party programme for the League of the Just, which he had co-founded. Marx, of course, won the struggle, and the Communist Manifesto as written - not a party programme dictating direct and violent overthrow of the state and the immediate establishment of communism."The League of the Just after the debacle of May, 1839, ceased to exist as a central organisation. At any rate, no traces of its existence or its activity as a central organisation are found after 1840. There remained only independent circles organised by ex-members of the League. One of these circles was organised in London. Other members of the League of the Just fled to Switzerland, the most influential among them being Wilhelm Weitling (1809-1864). A tailor by trade, one of the first German revolutionists from among the artisan proletariat, Weitling, like many other German artisans of the time, peregrinated from town to town. In 1835 he found himself in Paris, but it was in 1837 that he settled there for long. In Paris he became a member of the League of the Just and familiarized himself with the teachings of Hugues Lamennais, the protagonist of Christian socialism, of Saint-Simon and Fourier. There he also met Blanqui and his followers...In Switzerland Weitling and some friends, after an unsuccessful attempt to propagandise the Swiss, began to organise circles among the German workers and the emigrants. In 1842 he published his chief work, "Guarantees of Harmony and Freedom"...Influenced by Blanqui, Weitling's ideas differed from those of other contemporary utopians, in that he did not believe in a peaceful transition into communism. The new society, a very detailed plan of which was worked out by him, could only be realised through the use of force. The sooner existing society is abolished, the sooner will the people be freed. The best method is to bring the existing social disorder to the last extreme. The worse, the better! The most trustworthy revolutionary element which could be relied upon to wreck present society was, according to Weitling, the lowest grade proletariat, the "lumpenproletariat", including even the robbers. It was in Switzerland, too, that Michael Bakunin (1811-1876) met Weitling and absorbed some of his ideas. Owing to the arrest and the judicial prosecution started against Weitling and his followers, Bakunin was compromised and forever became an exile from his own country. After a term in prison, Weitling was extradited to Germany in 1841. Following a period of wandering, he finally landed in London where his arrival was joyously celebrated. A large mass meeting was arranged in his honour. English socialists and Chartists as well as German and French emigrants participated. This was the first great international meeting in London. It suggested to Schapper the idea of organising, in October, 1844, an international society, The Society of Democratic Friends of all Nations. The aim was the rapprochement of the revolutionists of all nationalities, the strengthening of a feeling of brotherhood among peoples, and the conquest of social and political rights At the head of this enterprise were Schapper and his friends. Weitling stayed in London for about a year and a half. In the labour circles, where all kinds of topics dealing with current events were being passionately discussed, Weitling had at first exerted a great influence. But he soon came upon strong opposition. His old comrades, Schapper, Heinrich Bauer and Joseph Moll (1811-1819), had during their much longer stay in London, learned all about the English labour movement and the teachings of Owen. According to Weitling the proletariat was not a separate class with distinct class interests; the proletariat was only a portion of the indigent oppressed section of the population. Among these poor, the "Iumpenproletariat" was the most revolutionary element. He was still trumpeting his idea that robbers and bandits were the most reliable elements in the war against the existing order. He did not attach much weight to propaganda. He visualised the future in the form of a communist society directed by a small group of wise men. To attract the masses, he deemed it indispensable to resort to the aid of religion. He made Christ the forerunner of communism, picturing communism as Christianity minus its later accretions. ... In 1844 Weitling was one of the most popular and renowned men, not only among German workers but also among the German intelligentsia...To him [i.e. Marx] Weitling was a very gifted expression of the aspirations of that very proletariat, the historic mission of which he himself was then formulating. Here is what he wrote of Weitling before he met him: "Where can the bourgeoisie, its philosophers and literati included, boast of work dealing with the political emancipation, comparable with Weitling's "Guarantees of Harmony and Freedom"? If one compares the dry and timid mediocrity of German political literature with this fiery and brilliant debut of the German workers, if one compares these halting but gigantic first steps of the proletariat with the mincing gait of the full-grown German bourgeoisie, one cannot help predicting that the proletarian Cinderella will develop into a prodigy of strength." It was quite natural that Marx and Engels should seek to make the acquaintance of Weitling. We know that the two friends during their short sojourn in London in 1845, became acquainted with the English Chartists and with the German emigrants. Though Weitling was still in London at that time, we are not certain that Marx and Engels met him. They entered into close relations in 1846, when Weitling came to Brussels where Marx, too, had settled in 1845 after he had been driven out of France.As Weitling kept arguing for a direct and violent overthrow of the state and the immediate establishment of communism based on the model of the first Christians in the New Testament, Marx came to directly disagree with him, arguing that what was needed first was the full development of capitalism and bourgeois democracy, before communism could take root. By June of 1847, the newly named Communist League endorsed Marx's programme, not Weitling's revolutionary ideas, and a year later, "The Manifesto of the Communist Party". By that, time Weitling had immigrated to the USA.

Kiøbenhaffn, (Matz Vingaard), (1588-)89. Folio. (39 x 27 cm.). Samtidigt hellæderbind i brunt kalveskind over svært træ og med kanter i smig. Lettere ophøjede bind på ryg. Håndsyede kapitælbånd. Lille hak i skindet på nederste rygfelt. Med de 4 originale hængselsbeslag i støbt messing bevarede, men den ene strop fornyet og den anden mangler. Permerne har begge blindtrykte arabesker, i midterfeltet en stor arabesk og i hjørner og kanter 6 pyramideformede arabesker, som alle er med en blindtrykt krone i pyramidens top. Permerne har mindre messingstifter med store hoveder til beskyttelse af bindet ved opslag. Marmoreret snit. Bindet er ganske velbevaret med kun lidt kantslid og let slid på de ophøjede rygbind. (22),353(i.e.354),226,159 blade. Komplet, men uden de 3 blanke blade. Træskåret titelblad med tekst trykt i rødt i midterfeltet. Titelbladsvarianten med kongens kobberstukne portræt (af Goltzius) opklæbet på bagsiden (en del eksemplarer udkom uden portrættet). Blad 2 med rigsvåbnet, bladet er kantrepareret. 2 træskårne deltitelblade. Registerbladene med svag skjold i ydre marginer. De sidste 35 blade delvist omkantede, for det meste i ydre marginer. Ganske få spredte brunpletter. Iøvrigt ganske lette brugsspor. Et udmærket velbevaret og komplet eksemplar (bortset fra de 3 blanke).På forreste friblad er anført lidt af eksemplarets ejerhistorie fra 1819, - erhvervet af Mikkel Johannesson Fladebøe som her delvist klausulerer dens ejerskab til fremtidige ejere af gården (Fladebøe ?). Senere synes den overgået til andre i slægten bosat i U.S.A. (Olaf Albertsen, Axel Albertsen, Stanley Albertsen, Sidney Albertsen). Folio. (39 x 27 cm.). Contemporary brown full calf over heavy wooden boards with oblique edges. Sloghtly raised bands to spine. Hand-stitched capital bands. A small notch to the leather of bottom compartment of spine. With the four original brass clasps preserved, but one strap has been renewed and the other is missing. Boards with large blindstamped centre-arabesque and six pyramid shaped arabesques to corners and edges, all with a blindstamped crown on top. Large-headed bras spins to boards, to protect the boards when open. Marbled edges. A bit of wear to edges and light wear to the raised bands. (22), 353(i.e.354), 226, 159 ff. Complete, save for the three blank leaves. Woodcut title-page with centre-text printed in red. The title-page variant with the engraved portrait of the king (by Goltzius) mounted on verso. Several copies were issued without portrait, and some were issued, as here, with the title-page mounted on verso. F. 2 with the royal arms, restored at edges. Two woodcut helf-titles. The index-leaves with a vague damp stain to the outer margins. The last 35 leaves have been partly re-edged, mostly at the very outer margins. A bit of light scattered brownspotting. Light signs of wear. An overall well preserved copy in- as well as externally. Front free end-paper with handwritten notes on provenance from 1819 onward – bought by Mikkel Johannesson Fladebøe, who partly clauses the ownership of the copy to the future owners of the estate (Fladebøe?). It seems to have then passed to other generations of the same lineage located in The United States (Olaf Albertsen, Axel Albertsen, Stanley Albertsen, Sidney Albertsen). The magnificent first printing of the second Danish-Norwegian Bible in folio. This, the second Danish Bible in folio, is also the first to be printed by a Dane. The scarce and famous "Frederik II-Bible" constitutes the magnum opus of the famed book printer Mads Vingaard "and the most extensive work of printing undertaken in Denmark during the sixteenth century. The book is profusely illustrated with woodcuts copied from a german Bible issued by Sigmund Feyerabend in Frankfurt a. M. 1560. The original woodcuts were made by the artist and craftsman Virgil Solis... Wide woodcut borders together with pictures using themes from the Scriptures surround the title pages and the illustrations. On the reverse of the first title page many copies have pasted in a portrait of Frederich II, engraved by the Dutch artist Hendrick Goltzius. However, this portrait may also be found on a separate leaf." (Thesaurus I).Lauritz Nielsen, 405. - Thesaurus I, 129. - Birkelund, 34.

Kiøbenhaffn, (Melchior Martzan og Salomon Sartor), (1632-) 1633. Folio (binding: 37 x 25 cm.). Bound in a spledid, contemporary full calf binding over wooden boards. Rich, elaborate gilding to both boards and spine. The gilding is vague, especially on the front board, but the tooling is very sharp, and the binding overall is magnificent. With four beautiful, ornamented brass edges to each board and two large ornamented brass clasps. All edges are gilt and beautifully blindtooled. Wear to capitals, where the cords are loosening a bit, and with a bit of loss of leather. A bit of wear to hinges, at the cords, which are showing. But overall the binding is in splendid condition. Also internally extremely well preserved. The title-page has a tiny restored hole to lower right corner, and the first four leaves might have been inserted. They are slightly smaller at the outer margin than the other leaves. But that might also be due to restoration, as the binding has not been tampered with at any point and is completely unrestored. The text is unusually nice, clean and fresh, by far the nicest copy we have ever come across. Pasted-down front end-paper with the ownership signature and lacquered coat-of-arms seal of Severin Svanenhielm (Severin Seehusen (1664-1726) ) as well as the ownership signatures of Søren Schiøtz (1796-1863) (with names of members of his family), C. Th. Zahle and Erik Zahle. With the book plate of William Davignon (d. 1924). The brass corners carry the initials HL and are depicted in Johannes Rudbeck's Svenska Bokband I (fig. 26, p.53). The binding there is dated 1622, whereas our binding is from 1633 or right after. The brass fittings were a commercial merchandise for sale in Germany and probably also in both Sweden and Denmark. Engraved title-page as well as the engraved portrait of Christian IV, all by the royal engraver Simon the Pas. Without the half-title, which merely contains the printed words "BIBLIA / Paa Danske", which is almost never present. (21 - not counting the engraved title-page and the portrait), 353 (i.e. 354 due to the erroneous double pagination 353), 226, 159 ff. A magnificent copy of the scarce first edition of the last (i.e. the third) of the Danish folio-bibles, known as "Christian IV's Bible", being a slightly revised edition of the Bible of 1589. Christian IV is the most famous Danish king ever to have lived, and the Christian IV bible is extremely sought-after. An unusually fresh and complete (apart from the always lacking half-title) copy of this splendid bible, printed by the first royal printer Melchior Martzan and Salomon Sartor (part 2). The numerous woodcut illustrations are the same that were used for the Frederik II Bibel from 1589. The four engraved leaves - the portrait and the three title-pages - are by Simon de Pas.Bibl. Dan.I,9 - Thesaurus II, 378. - Birkelund, 41. - Darlow and Moule, 3160. Provenance: Svanenhielm was a family of Danish and Norwegian nobility. Morten Hansen Seehuusen (1629-1694) was a merchant from Bredstedt in Schleswig-Holstein, who re-located to Stavanger, Norway. His son, Severin Seehusen (1664-1726) was an official in Bergen as well as in Stavanger and Northern Norway. He owned, among other properties, Damsgård Manor outside Bergen, Svanøy in Sunnfjord, and Arnegård in Stavanger. In 1720, Severin Seehausen was ennobled under the name Svanenhielm. Søren Daniel Schiøtz (1796-1863) was a Norwegian bailiff and judge, who was also very much engaged in religious matters and came to play an important role in the history of theology in Norway. He was one of the founders of the Norwegian Mission Society and the Norwegian Israeli Mission. He translated several important upbuilding pieces from German, among them a comprehensive bible history. Carl Theodor Zahle (1866 – 1946) was a highly important Danish lawyer and politician. He was prime minister of Denmark from 1909 to 1910 and again from 1913 to 1920. In 1895, he was elected member of the lower chamber of the Danish parliament, for the Liberal Party. A campaigner for peace, in 1905 he co-founded the Social Liberal Party (Det Radikale Venstre). He stayed on as a member of Parliament for Det Radikale Venstre until 1928, when he became a member of the upper chamber of Parliament (Landstinget). In 1929, he became Minister of Justice , a post which he held until 1935. Zahle was instrumental in starting negotiations for a new Danish–Icelandic Act of Union in 1917, which resulted in Iceland being recognized as a sovereign nation in a personal union with the king of Denmark the following year. Erik Zahle (1898-1969) was a famous Danish art historian, author, and museum director.

Milan, Tipografia dell'editore, 1829-1834. Large4to (380 x 265 mm). Uniformly bound, uncut and many leaves unopened, in 25 contemporary half calf bindings with five raised bands and gilt lettering to spines. Extremities with heavy wear; Most spines are missing part of the leather or are partly detached from book block. Corners bumped. Internally, with very light occassional brownspotting to blank margins, but overall fine and clean throughout with a total of 1491 (out of approximately 1619) exquisitly hand-coloured aquatint plates all with publisher's blindstamp. Most volumes numbered. SEE BELOW FOR COLLATION. The sumptuous luxury edition with numbered copies, printed on velin with "del socio Signor Giorgio Ferrario" printed on title-pages, of Ferrario’s monumental and extraordinary pictorial encyclopedia of world culture with magnificent hand-coloured aquatint plates depicting costumes, artifacts, scenic views, buildings, ruins, animals and plants from all over the world. The work was published several times, in both French and Italian and in various formats. However, the present publication constitute by far the most lavish and extensive edition, here with the three supplement volumes (Aggiunte) and one register volume (Indice Generale) - all four volumes complete - with much new material on Asia, India, the Pacific, Africa, Ancient Egypt, Europe and the Americas. Born in Milan in 1767, Ferrario was an erudite ecclesiastic charged with the direction of the Biblioteca Braidense, the main public library in the city. "The historical context in which ‘Il costume antico e moderno’ is that of the aftermatch of the French Revolution, the formation of Napoleon’s Empire, and the Habsburg takeover of parts of it, namely the kingdom of Italy and Illyria, within the transformations affecting the Ottoman Empire and its European regions due to the Russian Empire’s aggressive military policy. Ferrario lived through Napoleon’s reign in Italy, including its demise in 1814. He then became a faithful subject of the Austrian monarchy and dedicated his major work to the Habsburg Emperor Francis I. He died in Milan in 1847." (Calvi, Translating Imperial Practices, Knowledge, and Taste Across the Mediterranean: Giulio Ferrario and Ignatius Mouradgea d’Ohsson). “A sophisticated philologist and cultural entrepreneur, Ferrario used his intellectual activity and public persona to acquire a meaningful position in the urban cultural milieu of Milan, the capital of the kingdom of Italy under Napoleon Bonaparte. Charged with different responsibilities in this lieu du savoir for over forty years, Ferrario used the extensive collections of the Biblioteca Braidense to gather a group of scholars and artists around his initiative. These contemporaries shared similar cultural and aesthetic concerns, and contributed to this first major collection of Italian literary classics in 242 volumes.” (Vintila-Ghitulescu, Women, Consumption, and the Circulation of Ideas in South-Eastern Europe). He edited the present work to be a collection aimed at popularizing knowledge of exotic and foreign cultures in an encyclopedic format using a blend of erudition and entertainment. Acknowledging the support of many public and private libraries, scholars, scientists, and art collectors, Ferrario explains his methodology: “We have concentrated in a single work sources that were disseminated in rare and extremely expensive volumes, for our young students to benefit from […]. We hope that the fine arts will also profit from our work, as artists will no longer have to search in vain for the ideal costumes.”. “Funding for the project was obtained through public subscription. Emperor Francis I, whose name was followed by thirteen members of the European royalty and high nobility. All customers could choose hand-coloured and black and white editions. Subscriptions were made by numerous public libraries in Italy, as well as in cities such as Berlin, Leipzig, London, Mannheim, Munich, Paris, St. Petersburg, and Vienna. Among individual subscribers , there were book sellers, printers, merchants, traders, painters, engravers, states employees and eccleastics.The Milanese Giulio Ferrario (1767-1847) was librarian of the Library Braidense, erudite and educated, successful author of historical and literary works cut. This monumental documentation of customs and traditions of the world was compiled by Ferrario with the help of several collaborators; widely acclaimed throughout Europe as well as 'more' times reprinted, also it was translated outside the Italian borders. A veritable mine of historical information, geographical, ethnological and anthropological, also apply to parts of the world at the time still poorly investigated”. (Vintila-Ghitulescu, Women, Consumption, and the Circulation of Ideas in South-Eastern Europe).Colas 1051.Brunet II, 1232f.Graesse II, P. 571.Hiler 311. ____________________________ THE SET CONSISTS OF THE FOLLOWING: AFRICA, (2 vols): - Africa, Primo parte. No. 22. 480 pp + 43 hand coloured plates (out of a total of 77 plantes. Wanting: IV, XIII, XXI, XXIX, XXXI, XXXIV, XXXVII, XXXVIII, XXXIX, XL, XLI, XLV, XLVI, XLVII, XLVIII, LI, LIII, LV, LVI, LXI, LXIII, LXV, LXVIII, LXIX, LXXI, LXXII, LXXIII, LXXIV, LXXV, LXXVI, LXXVII). - Africa, Secondo parte. No 15. 543, (1) pp + 83 coloured plates (complete). AMERICA (2 vols - Complete) - Dell’America. Parte Prima. America Settentrionale. No. 17. (1829). 638, (1) + 87 hand coloured plates (complete) - (7) Dell’America. Parte Seconda. America Meridionale. No. 22. 560 pp. + 80 hand coloured plates (complete) ASIA (4 parts in 5 volumes) - Dell’Asia. Volume Primo. No. 22. XXVI, (2), 468 pp. + 62 hand coloured plates (out of a total of 87, wanting the following: XIV, XV, XVIII, XIX, XXII, XXVIII, XXX, XXXVII, XXXVIII, LIII, LXII, LXIV, LXV, LXVI,LXVII, LXXI, LXII,LXXIX, LXXX, LXXXII, LXXXIII, LXXXVII) - Dell’Asia. Volume Secondo, Parte Prima. 313 pp. + 62 Hand Coloured plates. - Dell’Asia. Descrizione delle Isole Ceilan, Maldive e Lachedive, Volume Secondo, Parte Seconda. Pp. 315-600 + 29 hand coloured plates (Complete). - Dell’Asia. Volume Terzo. De Fenicj, De Siri, Degli Arabi. No. 40. 615, (1) pp. + 61 hand coloured plates (Out of a total of 75: Wanting: VI, XXI, LII, LIII, LVIII, LXII, LXIV, LXV, LXVII, LXIX, LXX, LXXII. LXXIII, LXXIV. - Dell’Asia. Volume Quatro. No. 40. 610, (1) pp. + 97 hand coloured plates. (Complete).EUROPE (6 parts in 12 volumes) - Dell’Europa. Volume Primo, Parte Prima + Appendice. No. 15. 572, 43 pp. + 83 hand coloured plates. (Out of a total of 90, wanting: II, XXXIV, XLIX, L, LXXIII LXXXVIII, LXXXIX) - Dell’Europa. Volume Primo, Parte Seconda. No. 17. (4), 573-1109, (3), 19 pp. + 11 hand coloured plates (out of a total of 65. Wanting: XCII, XCIII, XCIV, XCV, XCVI, XCVII, XCVIII,XCIX, CII, CIII, CVI, CVIII, CIX, CX, CXI, CXII, CXIV, CXV, CXVI, CXVII, CXVIII, CXIX, CXX, CXXI,CXXII, CXXIII, CXXIV, CXXV, CXXVI, CXXVII, CXXVIII, CXXIX, CXXX, CXXXI, CXXXII,CXXXIII, CXXXV,CXXXVI, CXXXVII, CXXXIX, CXXXIX, CXXXIX, CXL, CXLIV, CXIV,CXLVI, CXLVII, CXLVIII, CXLIX, CL, CLI,) - Dell’Europa. Volume Primo, Parte Terza. No. 15. 447, (1) pp. + 70 hand coloured plates (complete). - Dell’Europa. Volume Secondo. 604 pp. 107 hand coloured plates (complete). - Dell’Europa. Volume Terzo, Parte Prima. (2), 328, XII pp. + 48 hand coloured plates (complete). - Dell’Europa. Volume Terzo, Parte Seconda. No. 17. Pp. (4), 329-1007, (1) + 92 hand coloured plates. - Dell’Europa. Volume Quarto, Parte Prima. 326 pp. + 46 hand coloured plates. - Dell’Europa. Volume Quarto, Parte Seconda. Pp. 327-808 + 54 hand coloured plates. (complete). - Dell’Europa. Volume Sesto, Parte Prima. No. 40. 328 pp. + 35 hand coloured plates. (Out of a total of 50, wanting: I, III, XXI, XXII, XXIII, XXIV, XLIII, XLIV, XLV,XLVI, XLVII, XLVII, XLIX, L.) - Dell’Europa. Volume Sesto. Parte Second. 27, 207, (1) + 33 hand coloured plates (complete). - Dell’Europa. Volume Quinto. No. 17. 215, (1), XIX, (1) pp. + 35 hand coloured plates (complete). - Dell’Europa. Volume Quinto, Parte Seconda. 386, (1) pp. 68 hand coloured plates, (complete). SUPPLEMENTS AND REGISTER - Aggiunte e Rettificazioni. Volume Primo. 496 pp. + 97 hand coloured plates. (complete). - Aggiunte e Rettificazioni. Volume Secondo. 443 pp. + 54 hand coloured plates. (complete). - Aggiunte e Rettificazioni. Volume Terzo. 268 pp. + 46 hand coloured plates (complete) - Indice Generale. VIII, 452 pp. + 5 hand coloured plates.

Budapest, Kiadja a Természettudományi Társulat [Academy of Sciences], 1873 & 1874. 8vo. In two contemporary embossed full cloth bindings with gilt letter- and numbering to spine. Bindings with light wear, primarily affecting hindges. Previous owner's stamp to half title and title page in both volumes. Light occassional brownspotting, primarily affecting first and last leaves. An overall nice copy. XVI, (2), 303, (1); VII, (1), 361, (1) pp. + 1 leaf of Advertisement + 2 plates (A frontiespiece of Darwin and one listing the evolution of the different generations). The exceedingly rare first Hungarian translation of Darwin's "Origin of Species". Together with the Serbian and the Spanish, the first Hungarian translation of the "Origin" is arguably the scarcest of all the translations of the work and very few copies of it are known. The Hungarian public was introduced to Darwinism early on when Ferenc Jánosi reviewed The Origin of Species in the Budapesti Szemle (Budapest Review) half a year after it first appeared in English. Darwin's principal works were first published in Hungarian translation by the Royal Hungarian Natural Science Society (Királyi Magyar Természettudományi Társulat). Translator Dapsy László had been actively working to make Darwin and his idea known in Hungary. Through his articles, he consistently presented Darwinism as a possible model for the type of progressive society that Hungary should attempt to achieve, thus being one of the very earliest to apply Darwin's theories to human society and politics in general. "Dapsy's translation, inspired by liberal ideals of progress, increasingly became part of the conservative discourse of Hungarian politics, reinterpreted and appropriated according to the nationalist agendas merging in Hungarian Society". (Mund, The Reception of Charles Darwin in Nineteenth-Century Hungarian Society).Prior to his translation in 1872, Dapsy wrote Darwin: "I am sorry to say that as yet, here such tendencies are received with a good deal of aversion, but I believe that by-and-by they will accept it, and it would be a great advancement for our political life too". (Dapsy to Darwin, 12 June 1872). Darwin's response is not known. "It is characteristic of the enlightened spirit of the country in this period that Darwin received academic recognition earlier in Hungary than in England. Although Cambridge did not honor Darwin until 1879, he was elected an honorary member of The Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1872, the same year on this occasion the renowned Hungarian zoologist Tivadar Margó visited him at Down.Historical circumstances played a major role in this quick appearance of Darwinism and its popularity in Hungary. The failure of the 1848-49 revolution and war of independence seemingly put an end to progressive political discourse, signaling an ideological crisis among the intelligentsia. In this context, the natural sciences with their 'eternal truths' promised a way out, inasmuch as science's promised objectivity might well serve as a politically neutral expression of progressive values" (Mund, The Reception of Charles Darwin in Nineteenth-Century Hungarian Society).The present book was one of four scientific works published between 1872 and 1874 by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the others being Bernhard von Cotta's Geologie der Gegenwart (1865), Huxley's Lectures on the Elements of Comparative Anatomy (1864), and Tyndall's Heat Considered as a Mode of Motion (1863). An advertisement for these books occurs on the final leaf of vol. II.During Darwin's lifetime, 'Origin' was published in eleven different languages, some of them in more than one edition: The first foreign translation was the German (1860), followed by a Dutch (1860), French (1862), French (1862), Italian (1864), Russian (1864), Swedish (1869), Danish (1872), Hungarian (1873), Spanish (1877) and Serbian (1878), the last three by far being the rarest. OCLC locates only three complete copies: Paris Mazarin Library, University Library of Szeged and The Huntington Library, CA. Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin only hold volume 1. Freeman 703.

Speier, Johann and Conrad Hist, (Colphon states 1455 which refers to when Ferrer was cannonized as a saint), circa 1485, no later than 1492. 4to (210 x 147 mm). In a very nice late 19th-century full sprinkled calf binding executed by Francis Bedford (signed in lower margin of verso of front board). Six raised bands and gilt lettering and ornamentation to spine. Double ruled fillets to recto and verso of borders of boards. Single gilt line decoration to edges of boards. All edges gilt. Old bookseller description and gilt ex-libris (Henry Huth (1815–1878), English banker and prominent bibliophile) pasted on to pasted down front end-paper. A few annotations in pencil to pasted down front end-papers. A few early marginal annotations and underlingnings. Initials in contemporary hand-colouring. 32 lines to a page. Washed. 19 ff. (a8- b-35). Wanting the final blank (c6). This is one of the few books which contains the brothers' joint colophon "ICH". Housed in a cloth clam-shell box. Exceedingly rare, early incunable-edition of Ferrer’s highly popular, influential, and somewhat unsettling work containing his apocalyptic vision and eschatological preaching. Although several incunable-editions exist, they are rarely found in the trade and all are of the utmost scarcity. Of this edition we are only aware of one copy on private hands - namely, the present one, which last appeared for sale in 1985 (Bloomsbury Book Auctions, no. 45). The dating of this particular edition has puzzled bibliographers and still seems to leave many questions open: The colophone states 1455, which has often been referred to as an error in the year of imprint; in fact, it refers to the year that Ferrer was cannonized as a saint. For some reason (unknown to us), the Bloomsbury auction description dated it to 1491-1492. In their authoritative “Die Brüder Johann und Conrad Hist und ihre Drucke”, Engel and Stalla concluded that it must be from 1485, and the Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke (GW) dates it to around 1483. The Vatican dates it to circa 1485. The Editio Princeps was printed by Gerardus de Lisa in Treviso in 1475. A second edition was printed, in Treviso or Vicenza, by Hermann Liechtenstein in 1477, and a third edition was printed in 1479 in either Toulouse or Lyon. The Zeninger-press in Nurnberg then printed a copy in 1480 or 1481. Despite being printed relatively frequently in the last quarter of the 15th century all editions are scarce and rarely find their way to the trade. The two brothers Hist settled in Speyer in January 1483. Only five incunabule editions from their joint production bear a colophon naming them both, i.e. Johann and Conrad (which this present edition does). These are dated between 1483 and 1488. Notably, in all five colophons, the printers' names are abbreviated as "ICH" rather than written out in full. Johann died or left at some point, but the exact date is unclear; Engel and Stalla mention 1489, others have stated 1492. Conrad Hist continued printing independently until 1515 and subsequently worked as a publisher and bookseller. Vincent Ferrer (1350–1419) was a Dominican friar from Valencia, Spain, known for his fiery preaching and missionary work across Europe. He was canonized as a saint in 1455.The present work reflects Ferrer's apocalyptic vision and eschatological preaching. Ferrer believed that the world was nearing its end and that humanity needed urgent repentance to prepare for the Final Judgment. His sermons and writings were deeply influenced by Medieval apocalypticism, writing on subjects like the Antichrist, the Last Judgment and divine retribution. Ferrer’s somewhat distressing writings and the fact that he thought he was divinely appointed to warn the world of its impending end earned him the nickname "Angel of the Apocalypse". The Huth library. A catalogue of the printed books, vol 2, p. 512. Not in BMC; not in Goff. GW 09852. OCLC lists copies in Germany, 1 copy in Scotland, and 1 copy in The Vatican (Inc. IV. 413).See: Engel, Hermann/Stalla, Gerhard (1976), "Die Brüder Johann und Conrad Hist und ihre Drucke“, in: Archiv für Geschichte des Buchwesens 16.

Madrid, Ricardo Fé, 1887. 8vo. Contemporary brown half calf with gilt lettering and ornamentation to spine and red paper covered boards. Most leaves evenly browned (due to the quality of the paper) and some brownspotting to last few leaves. Overall a very good copy indeed of this otherwise fragile book. [Socialismo Utopico... :] pp. (1)-91, (1) + frontispiece of Engels; [La Ley de Los Salarios... :] pp. (1)-44 + frontiespiece of Guesde; [El Capital:] pp. (I)-LVI, 263 pp. The exceedingly scarce first Spanish edition of the most important abridged version of Marx's Capital ever to have appeared, published in the same year as what is generally accepted as the first Spanish edition of "Das Kapital" (Zafrilla's abridged version - defectively translated from Roy's French version - which was published in newspaper installments 1886-87).This Spanish translation was made from the French of Gabriel Deville (1854 -1940), the great French socialist theoretician, politician and diplomat, who did more than almost anyone else to raise awareness of Karl Marx's theories of the weaknesses of capitalism - most effectively through the present work, which came to have a profound influence upon the spreading of Marxist thought throughout the Spanish speaking part of the world. "The epitome, here translated, was published in Paris, in 1883, by Gabriel Deville, possibly the most brilliant writer among the French Marxians. It is the most successful attempt yet made to popularize Marx's scientific economics. It is by no means free from difficulties, for the subject is essentially a complex and difficult subject, but there are no difficulties that reasonable attention and patience will not enable the average reader to overcome. There is no attempt at originality. The very words in most cases are Marx's own words, and Capital is followed so closely that the first twenty-five chapters correspond in subject and treatment with the first twenty-five chapters of Capital. Chapter XXVI corresponds in the main with Chapter XXVI of Capital, but also contains portions of chapter XXX. The last three chapters-XXVII, XXVIII, and XXIX-correspond to the last three chapters-XXXI, XXXII, and XXXIII-of Capital." (ROBERT RIVES LA MONTE, Intruductory Note to the 1899 English translation).The Spanish translator of the work is Antonio Atienza, a typographer and translator at the press of Ricardo Fé, who in 1886 volunteered his work at the newly founded "El Socialista", the Spanish flagship publication of Marxist socialism. It was also in 1886 that Atienza translated the present work, with the publication following in 1887. This translation happened almost simultaneously with the "translation" by Zafrilla, which appeared in weekly installments in the rival newspaper "La Républica", and the two first versions of "Das Kapital" to appear in Spanish tell the story of more than just the desire to spread Marx's ideas in Spain. Both versions were part of an ongoing struggle between political parties vying for the loyalty of Spain's workers (see more below). THE WORK IS OF THE UTMOST SCARCITY, WITH MERELY THREE COPIES LISTED ON OCLC (two in Bristish Library and one in Bibliothèque Nationale) and none at auction over the last 40 years at least.Backgrund for the publication:Among the numerous nascent political organizations that sprouted in the last half of 19th century Spain, many of them as a result to the tumultuous years after the so-called "Glorious Revolution" of 1868, was the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE). The party was founded by Pablo Iglesias in 1879, and it was the second socialist party in Europe, preceded only by the Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD). Notably, of the original twenty-five founding members sixteen were typographers. March of 1886 was a turning point for the PSOE, as they began to publish a weekly newspaper, "El Socialista", in order to reach a wider audience throughout Spain and thus advance the Marxist socialist agenda, of which the paper became the flagship. (To this day, it is the official paper of the PSOE, the present ruling party in Spain, although it was suppressed during the years of Franco's dictatorial regime and published sporadically in exile, in France, or clandestinely in Spain. It was again published regularly since 1978. The PSOE gave up Marxism in 1979 in favor of Democratic Socialism.)In 1886 the translator of the present work, Antonio Atienza, was a typographer and translator at the press of Ricardo Fé. At the same time, he volunteered his work at the newly founded El Socialista, as the PSOE funds were quite limited-he wouldn't have a paid position in the paper until 1913. He translated articles by Engels, Guesde, and Buechner, among others."Das Kapital" had been published twenty years earlier. That it took so long to reach Spain in book form reveals, among other things, that up to that moment most of Marx's thoughts had filtered through to the workers' unions and parties by way of the writings of his followers as they were interpreted and explained by the intellectuals in charge of these organizations. It is also evident that the complexity of the book wouldn't be of much use to the average worker, factory and otherwise. Enter Deville's abridged version, which was more accessible in that some of the most basic ideas of Marx were digested and re-explained. The point was not to publish a book that could only be only be understood by economists and philosophers, but one that could be given to the workers. A rival party leftist party, considered by the PSOE as bourgeois, was the Partido Republicano Federal. One of its members, Pablo Correa y Zafrilla, undertook the task of translating the first volume of Das "Kapital". Quite usual for Spain at the time, the translation was published in weekly instalments to subscribers of their newspaper, "La República", starting in 1886 and ending in 1887. The paper then sold the cloth binding to its subscribers and offered to collect the installments to have the book bound for its customers. According to the ad in "La República" (22/1/1886), the translation is purportedly from the German original, but it has been clearly demonstrated that it is a defective translation from the French translation of Roy (Ribas). It seems very plausible that when the PSOE found out that someone else in Spain was beginning to publish a translation of the first volume of "Das Kapital", El Socialista decided to publish Deville's translation. In fact, the publication of El Capital by "La República" was briefly mentioned once in "El Socialista", and not in flattering terms (7/10/1887). That a Marxist newspaper disparaged against the first Spanish publication of "Das Kapital" reveals, among other things, that they were not terribly excited about some other party's publication producing a defective rendering of their guiding principles. On the other hand, that "La República" had decided to publish the book was probably brought about by the foundation of "El Socialista", as they saw that the PSOE now had the means to spread their ideas throughout the country. It is in no small way possible that the haste to publish the book brought about the many defects in the translation from the French of Roy as Correa hurried to finish it.José Mesa y Leompart, a typographer, translator, and Marxist ideologue and activist, had experienced the upheavals of the Commune of Paris during his exile after the 1868 revolution. He developed a friendship with Marx's son in law, Paul Lafargue, and his wife, Laura Marx-who themselves had been in exile in Spain during 1871-72-, as well as with Engels, with whom he shared much correspondence, and many other figures of the Marxist movement. He also met both Marx and Engels during their exile in London. His friendship with Pablo Iglesias was a major driving force behind the formation of the PSOE, and he collaborated with El Socialista both as a writer and as a financial supporter. Mesa writes to Engels in April of 1887 lamenting that some Spanish thinkers were using Marx's theories and the policies of the German Socialist Party to deny the concept of class struggle, despite the fact that "we have […] proven to them that you and Marx have always said the opposite, and having quoted to them the very clear statements of the German Socialist Party; [but] they remain unmovable, and at some point they even wanted to publish the abridged Capital by Deville, without the preface, and with notes interpreting the meaning in their own way-which we have impeded-(the Resumen [abridgement] of Deville will soon be published, faithfully translated into Spanish."Therefore, as early as April of 1887 the present translation was already in progress, and in fact, according to Mesa, soon to be published, so it was apparently very advanced. It is then quite possible that Antonio Atienza was commissioned to translate the Deville's abridgement a few months earlier, and not unlikely as far as 1886, when "La República" was still publishing installments of the Correa translation. The PSOE is obviously trying to obscure and minimize Correa's translation by publishing the Deville book, as the task of translating "Das Kapital" from the original would be lengthy and costly, and it would have come out too late to ascertain their political hold on Marx's ideas. This translation of Deville, then, sees the light is in the very midst of the bickering between leftist parties, and is in fact a product of the confrontations between leftist ideologies. It was finally published about nine months after Mesa's letter to Engels. The first announcement in "El Socialista" appears in their November 11th, 1887 issue. The price is four pesetas, or about the cost of an entire year's subscription to the paper, although subscribers could purchase it at half price. Still, given that many subscribers were workers of scarce means, less than three hundred copies were sent out to the main Spanish cities, and that the total edition was probably about a thousand copies at most.The scarcity of this book can be underlined if one considers the virulent war that was waged against all socialist and Marxist literature during and after the Spanish Civil War by the dictatorial regime of Francisco Franco. Book purges and burnings were considerable throughout Spain since the onset of the war, in 1936. It is not that books were burnt sporadically and occasionally, but rather they were destroyed in a systematic and terrifyingly efficient manner. As early as September of 1936 official orders were given to all civil governors, mayors, school inspectors in the nationalist areas to purge all "harmful" books, such as pornography and books of a communist or Marxist content. Teachers, librarians, and private citizens, often purged their own libraries, public or personal, of such works in order to comply with the official orders. Countless people were summarily executed for owning certain books that revealed their political tendencies. Obviously, owning actual edition of a book by Marx was reason enough to be deemed guilty and likely executed. As the war advanced, many other such official orders were issued, and unfathomable numbers of books were burnt. To this is added that many libraries were burnt down during the bombardments that took place throughout the country, and that all the libraries of the leftist parties were systematically destroyed. The end of the war, in 1939, only made it official throughout the entire country that communist and socialist literature was banned. So even the few copies that might have survived the fires and the purges were surely disposed of by their owners. It is no small wonder that this particular copy did manage to survive.Withbound in the present volume is the first Spanish translation of Engels' "Socialism: Utopian and Scientific" and Jules Guesde's work on the Law of Wages. See:Ribas, Pedro. "La primera traducción castellana de El capital, 1886 - 1887", in Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos, Madrid, junio de 1985, pp. 201-210.Castillo, Santiago. "Marxismo y socialismo en el siglo XIX español", in, Movimiento sociales y estado en la España contemporánea, Manuel Ortiz et al (coord.), Universidad de Castila-La Mancha, 2001Boza Puerta, Mariano, and Sánchez Herrador, Miguel Ángel. "El martirio de los libros: una aproximación a la destrucción bibliográfica durante la Guerra Civil." In Boletín de la Asociación Andaluza de Bibliotecarios. Año nº 22, Nº 86-87, 2007, págs. 79-96Tur, Francesc. https://serhistorico.net/2018/04/04/el-bibliocausto-en-la-espana-de-franco-1936-1939/

Tel Aviv, 14 May 1948. Folio. (4) pp. Unbound as issued. In near perfect condition. Scarce first printing of the Israeli Declaration of Independence, the seminal historical document that establishes the first Jewish state in 2.000 years. Contained in the first issue of the Official Gazette of the Israeli provisional government, this landmark publication was printed on the first day of the birth of Israel. A bound set of "Iton Rishmi" reprinting this historic publication was issued later the same year. Formally entitled the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, the Israeli Declaration of Independence was proclaimed on May 14 1948, by David Ben-Gurion, the executive head of the World Zionist Organization, chairman of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, and, shortly after, the first Prime minister of Israel. It declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel, to be known as the State of Israel. "The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here, their spiritual, religious, and national identity was formed. Here, they achieved independence and created a culture of national and universal significance. Here, they wrote and gave the Bible to the world.Exiled from Palestine, the Jewish people remained faithful to it in all the countries of their dispersion, never ceasing to pray and hope for their return and the restoration of their national freedom." Thus begins the seminal historical document that constitutes one of the most important political ones of recent times. Immediately following the British army withdrawal earlier on May 14, war broke out between Jews and Arabs. Egypt launched an air assault against Israel that same evening. Despite a blackout in Tel Aviv-and the expected Arab invasion-Jews celebrated the birth of their new nation, especially after word was received that the United States had recognized the Jewish state. At midnight, the State of Israel officially came into being upon termination of the British mandate in Palestine. "Using the American Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution as philosophical frameworks, a small group of attorneys and politicians pieced together Israel's Declaration of Independence. Other important political decisions pertaining to Jewish statehood were left until the last minute: the location of the State's capital, its final name, and how to bring together several Jewish military organizations under one command. Military operations, particularly those around the Jewish settlement at Kfar Etzion, south of Jerusalem, diverted attention from final decisions about these matters. Also pressing on David Ben-Gurion, the head of the Jewish Agency and future first Prime Minister of Israel,was the request by President Truman's White House asking for a formal written request for recognition.On Friday, May 14, following some debate, the National Council, established to oversee the political needs of the Jewish community in Palestine, voted to accept the final text of the Declaration. That afternoon at 4 pm, David Ben-Gurion, head of the National Council, read the Declaration at the Tel Aviv Museum. Without electricity in Jerusalem, few there heard Ben-Gurion's words or the singing and playing of 'Hatikvah,' Israel's national anthem. That morning, Ben-Gurion, uncertain about the coming war with Arab states, had his secretary secure a safety deposit box at a local bank so that the Declaration could be immediately placed there for safekeeping. The Declaration was a synopsis of Jewish history to 1948 and a statement of Israel's intent toward its inhabitants, neighbors, and the international community. It was divided into four parts: 1) a biblical, historical, and international legal case for the existence of a Jewish state in the Land of Israel; 2) the self-evident right of the Jewish people to claim statehood; 3) the actual declaration of statehood; and 4) statements about how the state would operate, including an enumeration of citizen rights. In keeping with the UN Resolution that provided international legitimacy for Jewish and Arab states in Palestine, the requirement to have a constitution was stated. Israel's objective to institute a constitution was postponed indefinitely in June 1950. Noteworthy similarities and differences exist between the American and Israeli Declarations of Independence. Both declarations assert independence and the right of their populations to control their own destinies, free from legislative impositions and despotic abuses. In the Israeli case, however, immediate past history was included, and it reflected earlier Jewish catastrophes and the prospects of potential physical annihilation. Both declarations sought self- determination, liberty, and freedom derived their claims based on human and natural rights, promised safeguards for the individual, and proclaimed an interest in commerce or economic growth. The Israeli Declaration of Independence contained a list of historical claims to the land of Israel. The Declaration cited benchmark historical events when the international community sanctioned the Jewish state's legitimacy, particularly the acknowledgement to build a national home given by the League of Nations (1922) and by the United Nations (1947) to establish a Jewish state. While there were skirmishes going on between Americans and the British when the American Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, when Israel declared its independence it was in the midst of a full-fledged war for survival with the local Arab population and surrounding Arab states. The on-going war notwithstanding, the Israeli Declaration of Independence includes a declaratory statement offering "peace and amity" to its neighbors and the request "to return to the ways of peace." Both declarations made reference to a higher authority: the Israeli Declaration of Independence does not mention religion, but it closes with the phrase "with trust in the Rock of Israel [Tzur Yisrael]."1 The choice of this phrase was Ben-Gurion's verbal compromise, made to balance strong secular and religious pressures. Any precise mention of religion might have required mention of religious practice, which could have created enormous social fragmentation in the early fragile years of the state. By contrast, the American Declaration of Independence appealed to the "Supreme Judge, protection of the Divine." (Ken Stein, 2008, from: israeled.org).

(Napoli, 1768). Folio. Bound uncut in a magnificent recent sprinkled full calf pastiche-binding with seven raised bands, forming eight compartments. Two leather title-labels to spine and compartments and raised bands with gilt ornamentation. All edges of boards with blindstamped decorations. One text leaf (unnumbered, but no. 38) with small stain and one diagram with tiny hole measureing 1 cm2, both far from affecting text/plate, very light soiling to first two leaves. All in all a very fine, clean an attractive copy. Complete with 39 ff. of text [Italian and Latin in parallel columns], 69 plates of views and diagrams of which three are double page and one folded, a beautiful panorama depicting the Bay of Pozzuoli ('Veduta della Costa di Pozzuoli'). The rare first edition of Paoli's masterpiece of 18th century Italian chalcography with both text and views in beautiful copper engraved plates. The systematic documentation of classical ancient Greek and Roman ruins, many of which are here depicted for the very first time, is considered the most important eighteenth century views of Pozzuoli and its surroundings. The engravings by Giovanni Volpato, Antoine Cardon, Francesco La Marra, and Johann Dominik Fiorillo are based on drawings by local artists such as Gianbattista Natali, Tommaso Rojola, Ricciarelli and Magri. Conte Felice Gazzola commissioned the present work and when published, it was printed in very few copies only and sold for 15 Neapolitan ducats. A second edition in folio-oblong was printed in 1769.Pozzuoli, located just north of Naples, began as a Greek colony and a Roman colony was established in 194 BC. Pozzuoli (at the time named Puteoli) was the great emporium for the Alexandrian grain ships and other ships from all over the Roman world. It was also the main hub for goods exported from Campania, including blown glass, mosaics, wrought iron, and marble. The Roman naval base at nearby Misenum housed the largest naval fleet in the ancient world. It was also the site of the Roman Dictator Sulla's country villa and the place where he died in 78 BC - the ruins of many of these sights are portrayed in the present work. Paolo Antonio Paoli, president of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome (1775-98), was a pioneering scholar and historian of the ancient civilizations of the region of Campania in southern Italy. Cicognara 2692 (erroneously dated 1778)Graesse I, 146 Brunet I, 314

Stockholm, (1661-1728). Tvær-folio. (36,5 x 48 cm.). Pragtbind i poleret hellæder fra omkr. 1900, udført af Gustav Hedberg, Stockholm. Ryg med 6 ophøjede bind, skindtitel i rygfelt. Overalt et overflødighedshorn af stempler og forgyldninger med brede sammensatte forgyldte borter på permer, overdådig rygforgyldning, kantforgyldning og indvendige forgyldte borter. Hele snittet forgyldt - et typisk pragtbind fra Hedbergs bogbinderi. Med 354 kobberstukne plancher (incl. de 3 titelblade). Til slut "Index Figurarum Ænearum 1-3" 13 pp. (ikke nævnt hos Lindberg Swedish Books). Plancherne er trykt på skrivepapir og er i forskellige størrelser (folio, dobbeltfolio og sammensatte), men er her opsatte eller øgede i marginer med samtidigt skrivepapir for at opnå samme "planchestørrelse" for indbindingen. Særdeles velbevaret eksemplar, kun få brunpletter, klare aftrykt på skrivepapir. Nogle få plancher lidt tæt beskåret (dette gælder de 3 titelblade). Komplet eksemplar af dette Nordens største topografiske plancheværk, afbildende svenske byer, landskaber m.v. Kollationeringen kan være vanskelig, da der optræder forskellige angivelser af planchetallet i litteraturen, således anfører det trykte Index 150+76+126=352; Lindberg anfører 353 (150+76+127). Dette eksemplar indeholder 354, inclusiv planchen med Den Svenske Kirke i London (Templum Ulricæ), indbundet tilsidst, men før Index og dateret 1728. Første del afbilder Stockholm og opland med Uppland. Anden del afbilder Södermannland, Västermannland, Dalarna, Värmland, Lappland etc.. Tredie del afbilder Östergötland, Västergötland, den sydlige del med Gotland, Skåne, Småland, Halland, Öland etc., i prospekter, landskaber, havne, byer, paladser, kirker, kunstgenstande m.v.Complete copy of the largest Scandinavian topographical work, and it is up to our own day by far the greatest Swedish effort to present the Country of Sweden and its architectural treasures, here bound in a magnificent binding by Gustaf Hedberg. - Brunet V:578.The complicated printing-history of this work is described in Lindberg: Swedish Books 1280-1967 as no. 37.

London, 1860. 8vo. Bound partly uncut with the original wrappers in a nice recent half calf pastiche binding with four rasied bands and gilt lettering to spine. Front wrapper with marginal repairs and back wrappers with repairs with minor loss of text. Light brownspotting to first and last leaves. A fine copy. VI, (2), (1)-191, (1, -errata) pp. The rare first edition of Marx' landmark defense against defamation, a seminal work in his struggle for a new human society. Written in the midst of his writing of "The Capital", "Herr Vogt" constitutes the work that took precedence over this most important critique of political economy and the work that gives us one of the most profound insights into the mind of the great Marx. "Herr Vogt" is furthermore the work that we have to thank for the influence that "The Capital" and Marxist socialism did come to have upon our society. "In 1857, Karl Marx resumed work on his critique of political economy, a process that culminated in the publication of "Capital" a decade later. He wrote a rough draft (the "Grundrisse") in 1857 and 1858, parts of which he then reworked into the "Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy", which was published in June 1859. Then, in 1861 through 1863, he wrote a revised draft of the whole of "Capital", which was followed by a more polished draft written during 1864 and 1865. Finally, he revised the first volume yet again, during 1866 and 1867. It appeared in September, 1867.The careful reader will have noticed a rather lengthy gap in this chronology. From the second half of 1859 through 1860, Marx was not working on his critique of political economy. What was he doing instead? What was so important, so much more of an urgent priority than his theoretical work?The answer is that Marx was fighting back against Carl Vogt's defamatory attack. He fought back in order to defend his reputation and that of his "party." ... " Herr Vogt", the book Marx wrote in order to set the record straight." (Klimann, Marx' Struggle Against Defamation).Vogt was a prominent radical German politician and materialist philosopher who had immigrated to Switzerland, where he served in parliament and was also a professor of geology. His position on the 1859 war over Italian unification had a pro-French tilt, which resulted in the publication of a newspaper article and an anonymous pamphlet that alleged (correctly) that Vogt was being paid by the French government. Vogt believed Marx to be the source of the allegation and the author of the pamphlet.Vogt fought back by attacking Marx. He published a short book that described Marx as the leader of a band of blackmailers who demanded payment in return for keeping quiet about their victims' revolutionary histories. The book also contained a number of false and harmful allegations against Marx, and Vogt did everything in his power to destroy Marx' reputation. Not only did he attack Marx personally, he also falsified facts and made up untrue allegations to libel the Communist League, portraying its members as conspirators in secret contact with the police and accusing Marx of personal motives.There is no doubt that this work of slander put both Marx' own future as well as that of the Communist League at stake. "Ferdinand Lassalle warned Marx that Vogt's book "will do great harm to yourself and to the whole party, for it relies in a deceptive way upon half-truths," and said that "something must be done" in response (quoted in Rubel 1980, p. 53). Frederick Engels also urged Marx to respond quickly, and he provided a good deal of assistance when Marx wrote "Herr Vogt"....Carl Vogt and the circumstances that gave rise to his defamatory attack against Marx and his "party" are dead and gone. But "Herr Vogt" and Marx's battle against defamation remain living exemplars of how one responds in a genuinely Marx-ian way-i.e., the way of Marx. Do not separate theory from practice, or philosophy from organization. Do not retreat to the ivory tower or suffer attacks in silence; set the record straight. Use the bourgeois courts if necessary. Enlist the assistance of others." (Klimann)."Marx's Herr Vogt, almost entirely unknown in the English-speaking world. It is nevertheless one of the most brilliant of his writings. Engels considered it better than the Eighteenth Brumaire; Lassalle spoke of it as "a masterpiece in every respect"; Ryazanov thought that "in all literature there is no equal to this book"; Mehring rightly wrote of its "being highly instructive even today"." (Karl Marx on Herr Vogt - from The New International, Vol. X No. 8, August 1944, pp. 257-260. Transcribed & marked up by Einde O'Callaghan for ETOL).

S.-Peterburg, N.I. Poliakov, 1872. Large 8vo. In a nice recent half calf binding with gilt lettering to spine and five raised bands. First few leaves with light soling and a closed tear and a few marginal repairs to title-page. pp. 11-18 with repairs to upper outer corner. Closed tears to last leaf, otherwise a fine copy. XIII, (3), 678 pp. (wanting the half-title). First Russian edition (first issue, with the issue-pointers), being the first translation into any language, of Marx' immensely influential main work, probably the greatest revolutionary work of the nineteenth century.Marx' groundbreaking "Das Kapital" originally appeared in German in 1867, and only the first part of the work appeared in Marx' lifetime. The very first foreign translation of the work was that into Russian, which, considering Russian censorship at the time, would seem a very unlikely event. But as it happened, "Das Kapital" actually came to enjoy greater renown in Russia than in any other country; for many varying reasons, it won a warm reception in many political quarters in Russia, and it enjoyed a totally unexpected rapid and widespread success. The first Russian translation of "Das Kapital" came to have a profound influence the economic development of of Russia. It was frequently quoted in the most important economic and political discussions on how to industrialize Russia and the essential points of the work were seen by many as the essential questions for an industrializing Russia. " "Das Kapital" arrived in Russia just at the moment that the Russian economy was recovering from the slump that followed Emancipation and was beginning to assume capitalist characteristics. Industrialization raised in the minds of the intelligentsia the question of their country's economic destiny. And it was precisely this concern that drew Mikhailovsky and many of the "intelligenty" to "Das Kapital"." (Resis, p. 232).The story of how the first printing of the first translation of "Das Kapital" came about, is quite unexpected. As the "triumph of Marxism in backward Russia is commonly regarded as a historical anomaly" (Resis, p. 221), so is the triumph of the first Russian edition of "Das Kapital". The main credit for the coming to be of the translation of "Das Kapital" must be given to Nicolai Danielson, later a highly important economist in his own right. The idea came from a circle of revolutionary youths in St. Petersburg, including N.F. Danielson, G.A. Lopatin, M.F. Negreskul, and N.N. Liubavin, all four of whom participated in the project. Danielson had read the work shortly after its publication and it had made such an impact on him that he decided to make it available to the Russian reading public. He persuaded N.I. Poliakov to run the risk of publishing it. "Poliakov, the publisher, specialized in publishing authors, Russian and foreign, considered dangerous by the authorities. Poliakov also frequently subsidized revolutionaries by commissioning them to do translations for his publishing house. Diffusion of advanced ideas rather than profit was no doubt his primary motive in publishing the book." (Resis, p. 222). Owing to Danielson's initiative, Poliakov engaged first Bakunin, and then Lopatin to do the translation. Danielson himself finished the translation and saw the work through press. It was undeniably his leadership that brought Marx to the Russian reading public. In fact, with the first Russian edition of "Das Kapital", Danielson was responsible for the first public success of the revolutionizing work. "Few scholars today would deny that "Das Kapital" has had an enormous effect on history in the past hundred years. Nonetheless, when the book was published in Hamburg on September 5, 1867, it made scarcely a stir, except among German revolutionaries. Marx complained that his work was greeted by "a conspiracy of silence" on the part of "a pack of liberals and vulgar economists." However desperately he contrived to provoke established economists to take up "Das Kapital"'s challenge to their work, his efforts came to nought. But in October 1868 Marx received good news from an unexpected source. From Nikolai Frantsevich Danielson, a young economist employed by the St. Petersburg Mutual Credit Society, came a letter informing Marx that N. P. Poliakov, a publisher of that city, desired to publish a Russian translation of the first volume of "Das Kapital"; moreover, he also wanted to publish the forthcoming second volume. Danielson, the publisher's representative, requested that Marx send him the proofs of volume 2 as they came off the press so that Poliakov could publish both volumes simultaneously. Marx replied immediately. The publication of a Russian edition of volume 1, he wrote, should not be held up, because the completion of volume 2 might be delayed by some six months [in fact, it did not appear in Marx' life-time and was only published ab. 17 years later, in 1885]; and in any case volume 1 represented an independent whole. Danielson proceeded at once to set the project in motion. Nearly four years passed, however, before a Russian translation appeared. Indeed, a year passed before the translation was even begun, and four translators tried their hand at it before Danielson was able to send the manuscript to the printers in late December 1871." (Resis, pp. 221-22). This explains how the book came to be translated, but how did this main work of revolutionary thought escape the rigid Russian censors? "By an odd quirk of history the first foreign translation of "Das Kapital" to appear was the Russian, which Petersburgers found in their bookshops early in April 1872. Giving his imprimatur, the censor, one Skuratov, had written "few people in Russia will read it, and still fewer will understand it." He was wrong: the edition of three thousand sold out quickly; and in 1880 Marx was writing to his friend F.A. Sorge that "our success is still greater in Russia, where "Kapital" is read and appreciated more than anywhere else." (PMM 359, p.218). Astonishingly, Within six weeks of the publication date, nine hundred copies of the edition of three thousand had already been sold."Under the new laws on the press, "Das Kapital" could have been proscribed on any number of grounds. The Temporary Rules held, for example, that censorship must not permit publication of works that "expound the harmful doctrines of socialism or communism" or works that "rouse enmity and hatred of one class for another." The Board of Censors of Foreign Publications was specifically instructed to prohibit importation of works contrary to the tenets of the Orthodox Church or works that led to atheism, materialism, or disrespect for Scriptures. Nor did the recent fate of the works of Marx and Engels at the hands of the censors offer much hope that "Das Kapital" would pass censorship. As recently as August 11, the censors of foreign works had decided to ban importation of Engels' "Die Lage der arbeitenden Klassen in England", and, according to Lopatin, the censors reprimanded Poliakov for daring to run announcements on book jackets of the forthcoming publication of "Das Kapital". By 1872 the censors had prohibited the importation and circulation of all works by Marx and Engels except one - "Das Kapital". The book, as we shall see, had already won some recognition in Russia shortly after its publication in Germany. Not until 1871, however, did the censors render a judgment on the book, when the Central Committee of Censors of Foreign Publications, on the recommendation of its reader, permitted importation and circulation of the book both in the original language and in translation. The official reader had described the book as "a difficult, inaccessible, strictly scientific work," implying that it could scarcely pose a danger to the state. [...] The length and complexity of the book prompted the office to divide the task of scrutinizing it between two readers, D. Skuratov, who read the first half of the book, and A. De-Roberti, who read the last half. Skuratov dutifully listed objectionable socialist and antireligious passages, taking special note of Marx's harsh attack on the land reforms General Kiselev had instituted in the Danubian Principalities. But in his report Skuratov dismissed these attacks as harmless, since they were imbedded in a "colossal mass of abstruse, somewhat obscure politico-economic argumentation." Indeed, he regarded the work as its own best antidote to sedition. "It can be confidently stated," he wrote, "that in Russia few will read it and even fewer will understand it." Second, he said, the book could do little harm. Since the book attacked a system rather than individual persons, Skuratov implied that the book would not incite acts threatening the safety of the royal family and government officials. Third, he believed that the argument of the book did not apply to Russia. Marx attacked the unbridled competition practiced in the British factory system, and such attacks, Skuratov asserted, could find no target in Russia because the tsarist regime did not pursue a policy of laissez faire. Indeed, at that very moment, Skuratov stated, a special commission had drafted a plan that "as zealously protects the workers' well-being from abuses on the part of the employers as it protects the employers' interests against lack of discipline and nonfulfillment of obligations on the part of the workers." Repeating most of Skuratov's views, De-Roberti also noted that the book contained a good account of the impact of the factory system and the system of unpaid labor time that prevailed in the West. In spite of the obvious socialist tendency of the book, he concluded, a court case could scarcely be made against it, because the censors of foreign works had already agreed to permit importation and circulation of the German edition. With the last barrier removed, on March 27, 1872, the Russian translation of "Das Kapital" went on sale in the Russian Empire. The publisher, translators, and advocates of the book had persevered in the project for nearly four years until they were finally able to bring the book to the Russian reading public." (Resis, pp. 220-22). The Russian authorities quickly realized, however, that Skuratov's statement could not have been more wrong, and the planned second edition of the Russian translation was forbidden; thus it came to be published in New York, in 1890. That second edition is nearly identical to the first, which can be distinguished by the misplaced comma opposite "p. 73" in the table of contents (replaced by a full stop in the 2nd ed.) and the "e" at the end of l. 40 on p. 65 (replaced by a "c" in the 2nd ed.). A third edition, translated from the fourth German edition, appeared in 1898. Volumes 2 and 3 of "Das Kapital" appeared in Russian translation, also by Danielson, in 1885 and 1896.See: Albert Resis, Das Kapital Comes to Russia, in: Slavic Review, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Jun., 1970), pp. 219-237.

Vindobonae (Vienna), Matth. Andrae Schmidt, 1801-1805. Large folio. (50x35,5 cm.) Bound in 3 contemporary half longgrained red morocco bindings, with gilt backs and gilt lettering. Corners and edges slightly rubbed, minor scratches to the marbled covers, a fine copy. (8),74;(1),72;(1),66 pp. and 300 (100+100+100) handcoloured engraved folio-plates. Text as well as plates printed on fine thick paper, all uncut and clean. Plates with tissue-guards and in very fine original handcolouring. Scarce first edition of this beautiful work on grasses by the first director of the botanical garden in Vienna. A fourth volume, also comprising 100 plates, was issued 4 years later in 1809 - it is not present here. The beautiful plates are unsigned but drawn by Johannes Baptista Jebmayer (J. Ibmayer)."The work is a product of the golden Age of Viennese botany, when Hapsburg patronage attracted many botanists, and paid for lavish publication of their work. The present work is dedicated to the Emperor Francis I and his subsidy was particularly necessary as grasses are a 'difficult' group with restricted appeal; no other work on the family can approach this one in magnificence." - Nikolaus Host was a physician to Franz I and director of the botanical garden in Vienna, which was founded by the emperor on the advice of Host. Blunt, Great Flower Books p. 103. Nissen No. 935. Pritzel No. 4285.

(Paris, 1820). Small 8vo. Contemporary (original?) blank blue paper wrappers. Annulated stamp to title-page, otherwise a nice, clean, and fresh copy. 68 pp. + 5 engraved plates. First edition, in the extremely scarce off-print, of the first announcement of Ampère's seminal discoveries on electromagnetism, which laid the foundation for electrodynamics. Ampère first heard of Ørsted's discovery of electromagnetism on the 4th of September, when Arago announced Ørsted's results to the Paris Academy of Sciences. In Ørsted's experiment, a current-carrying wire is held over and under a compass needle - the result being that the needle is positioned at 45 degrees in respect to the wire. Ampére immediately saw that this result made no physical sense and realized that the true nature of the effect could not be observed until the force of terrestrial magnetism was somehow neutralized; what Ørsted had observed and reported on was the resultant of the force from the wire and that from the earth's magnetic field. Ampère discovered that the compass needle sets at 90 degrees to the current-carrying wire, when the effect of terrestial magnetism is eliminated. He also observed that current-carrying wires which are formed as spirals act as permanent magnets, and this lead him to his theory that electricity in motion produces magnetism and that permanent magnets must contain electrical currents. And thus Ampère laid the foundation of the new field of electrodynamics."Ampère, professor of mathematics at the Polytechnique, heard of Oersted's discovery and immediately set up a series of experiments to determine the exact relationships of current-flow and magnetism. In a week Ampère presented the first of a series of papers establishing the laws of forces acting between conductors carrying current." (Dibner). Ampère's seminal results were announced in a series of memoires read before the Paris Academy of Sciences in September and October 1820. These memoires were first published in the September and October issues of Arago's "Annales de Chimie et de Physique", and in November Ampère had the scarce seperate printing of his findings published under the title "Mémoires sur I'action mutuelle de deux courans électriques, sur celle qui existe entre un courant électrique et un aimant ou le globe terrestre, et celle de deux aimans I'un sur I'autre". It is this publication that is considered "his first great memoir on electrodynamics" (DSB).Sparrow: 8; Dibner: 62; Honeyman: 83; Barchas 51 (only the periodical-issue); Wheeler 762 (only the periodical-issue).

Paris, J. du Puys, 1580. 4to. Contemporary full vellum wih contemporary handwritten title to spine. Binding somewhat warped, but unrestored and tight. A (mostly very faint) damp stain to upper blak margin of some leaves (not affecting text), but otherwise internally very nice clean and fresh. Old owner's name to title-page (Dufault) and old acquisition note to front free end-paper. Woodcut title-vignette, woodcut headpieces, woodcut end-vignette, and a few woodcut initials. A large copy with good margins. (14), 252 (recte: 256) ff. Scarce first edition of Bodin's seminal "Demon-Mania", the most important book on witchcraft of the era. The work profoundly influenced the position on witchcraft of the following half century and directly influenced the course of witch trials of this period. The work is furthermore of fundamental importance to the understanding of Bodin's tripartite world picture and constitutes an invaluable supplement to his "Six livres de la république"."Jean Bodin's "On the Demon-Mania of Witches" (De la démonomanie des sorciers) appeared in 1580 and rapidly became a major publishing success. It underwent at least twenty-three editions and was translated from its original French into German, Italian and Latin. It was surely the most published work of the era on the subject of demons and witches. Because of its wide distribution, it has been considered by generations of historians to have been an extremely influential book, responsible in itself for large-scale prosecutions of witches in the four or five decades following its appearance." (Pearl, p. 9).The present first edition constitutes not only the original version of the work, but also the model for all French editions that followed (as well as the later translations) - as many as 11 between 1581 and 1616. Bodin edited an edition in 1587, which contained some additions; that edition is considered very flawed, however, and no subsequent editions were based upon it. Jean Bodin (1529/30 - 1596), "one of the towering figures in the history of French thought" (Scott), was a lawyer, economist, natural philosopher, historian, and one of the major political theorists of the sixteenth century. His main work, the "Six livres de la république" is one of the most important works of modern political thought. Here Bodin gave the first systematic statement of sovereignty and coined the term "political science". With his theory of the State and statement of Sovereignty, he fundamentally changed the history of political thought in the West. The "Six livres de la république" is Bodin's most famous and frequently read work. Due to the seemingly "supernatural" contents of the "Démonomanie", scholars have had difficulties recognizing the Bodin of the "Six livres" in this work, which, within its domain, was just as influential. There has been, however, increasing recognition of the political contents of the "Démonomanie", and a tendency towards reconciliation of the great works by this towering figure of early modern French thought. First of all, the work is written with the same impressive thoroughness and style as Bodin's other works. Second, although based upon a concrete sorcery case, the "Démonomanie" is of the utmost importance to the understanding of Bodin's tripartite world picture and his attempts at maintaining a clear line of separation between the world of nature and the supernatural. His monumental conception of "Theatrum Naturae" is just as dominant as a thematical background in his "Démonomanie" as it is in his "Six livres" and there ought to be no doubt about the fact that the basic features of his system of thought are dominant in the present work, which due to its concrete matter of investigation is all the more interesting. In fact, the "Démonomanie" is now considered an invaluable source for the general thought of the great political thinker. With its two-fold turn of focus on social problems and questions of natural-philosophical and theological character, the "Démonomanie", in accordance with Bodin's scientific plan of life, marks the transition from "human sciences" to "the science of natural and divine things". "Contrary to the judgment of the Enlightenment thinkers, this midway-position does not reduce its value in the Bodin corpus; on the contrary: Precisely this work is suitable for clarifying and illustrating the unity of his works." (Own translation from the German. Lange, p. 162). Concerning himself with witchcraft and demonology, it is in this work that we find an emphasized statement of Bodin's thoughts on women, on punishing and sentencing, and on the general threats of state and society. Having experienced severe criticism of his earlier works, Bodin's critics became more serious and dangerous with regard to his "Démonimanie". In his letter of dedication (December 20, 1579) to Christophle de Thou, the first president of the Parlement of Paris, Bodin explained his motives for writing the work. "First, he hoped to denounce the mania, the spiritual errors, and distraction, as well as the "fury" that sorcerers possess as they "chase after the devil." He wrote this treaty with two purposes in mind: on the one hand, "to use it as a warning to all who will see him [the devil]," and on the other hand, "to alert readers that there is no crime that could be more atrocious or deserve more serious punishment." Bodin wished to speak out against those who "try by all means to rescue the sorcerers through printed books." He reminded all that "Satan has men in his grasp who write, publish, and speak claiming that nothing that is said about sorcerers is true." It was essential to provide the tools to magistrates and judges, who were confronted by the accused sorcerers, in order to face this formidable problem. The work was bold and perilous for its author. Many wondered if Bodin, so curious about this topic, such an expert, so convinced of the devil's existence, may not himself have been involved with witchcraft. These suspicions alarmed the authorities, and on June 3, 1587, the general prosecutor to the Parlement of Paris ordered the general lieutenant of the baillage of Laon to proceed with a search of Bodin's home, on suspicion of witchcraft. This inspection brought no results due to the intervention of eight prominent citizens and two priests who registered their support of Bodin." (SEP)."The conclusions of the proceedings against a witch, to which I was summoned on the last day of April, 1578, gave me occasion to take up my pen in order to throw some light on the subject of witches, which seems marvelously strange to everyone and unbelievable to many... And because there were some who found the case strange and almost unbelievable, I decided to write this treatise which I have entitled "The Demon-Mania of Witches", on account of the madness which makes them chase after devils: to serve as a warning to all those who read it, in order to make it clearly known that there are no crimes which are nearly as vile as this one, or which deserve more serious penealties. Also partly to respond to those who in printed books try to save witches by every means, so that it seems Satan has inspired them and drawn them to his line in order to publish these fine books." (Bodin's Preface).A feature which clearly distinguishes Bodin's theories on witchcraft from late medieval and early Renaissance demonology is his struggle against skepticism, and the gender strategies that he deploys in the present work to thwart Skeptics, constitute a central feature of his modern demonology - a demonology that came to be dominating for more than half a century. The "Démonomanie" is a work designed to update a vast corpus concerned with the identification and punishment of witches. It provides us quite clearly with Bodin's thoughts on divinity, punishment, practice of law, and not least on women - women in general and women in society. "[W]omen generally serve as means to an end in Bodin's thought. The wife's natural inferiority to the husband provides an analogy for a nonreciprocal relation of command and obedience that he establishes between the sovereign and his subjects in "De la république". In "De la démonomanie", Bodin's portrayal of women as the possessors of unsavory secrets and his characterization of the confessions of witches as fragments of a grandly devilish design create the need for hermeneutical expertise - expertise that he claimed to have. In using women to "think with", the author of "De la démonomanie" had much in common with his opponent, the Lutharen physician Johann Weyer, who protested against the witch trials in "De praestigiis daemonum" (1563)." (Wilkin p. 53).An important part of Bodin's defence of the existence of witchcraft lies in the latter part of the present work, namely the pages 218-252, which constitute the famous refutation of the opinions of Johann Weyer ("Refutation des opinions de Jean Wier"). In his "De praestigiis daemonum" from 1563, Weyer had argued that that which we call witchcraft are actually manifestations caused by mental illness of the women in question. It is interesting to see how much Bodin actually drew on Weyer, while at the same time attacking him on both scholarly and legal grounds. As the thorough and classically bred scholar that he was, he cited both classical, Arab, and Christian authorities on witchcraft against Weyer. He arrays the authority of all philosophers, prophets, theologians, lawgivers, jurists, rulers, etc. Ultimately, Bodin here became the first to challenge Weyer's denial of the right to judge and punish the mentally ill, making the work of foundational importance to the following development of legal theory specifically targeted on the punishment of insane men and women. "As a major Renaissance scholar, Bodin based his work on an extensive and varied group of sources. He depended heavily on the Old Testament, classical and patristic authorities and a large number of medieval scholastic works. He was immersed in the late medieval legal and canon law traditions. He also cited a large number of recent and contemporary texts like the "Malleus meleficarum", as well as accounts told by friends and acquaintances. Interestingly, while Bodin condemned the work of Johann Weyer, he mined this book for anecdotes and accounts when they could be useful." (Pearl).The refutation of Weyer shows Bodin as a formidable controversialist. The reason why the "Démonomanie" is published two years after the trial of Jeanne Harvillier, which is constitutes the concrete basis of the work, is that Bodin needed time to carefully prepare the most effective resonse to Weyer's works and attach it to his own. Bodin seeks total demolishment of his opponent - and, as time will tell, he succeeds. Despite some modern disciples, Weyer's position was largely traditional. His aim is not to deny the existence of Satan, nor of satanic practitioners, but rather to contend that those suspected of witchcraft are delusional and victims of mental illness. "Weyer's characterization of women replicated the views of the "Malleus Maleficarum" (1487), or "witches hammer", one of the first and certainly the most influential manual for identifying and prosecuting witches... Weyer draws from the same sources as Kramer to argue that women cannot be held accountable for the crimes for which they stand accused and to which they often confess... Vying with the author of the "Malleus", weyer inscribes in etymology the correspondence between the soft female body and her persuasive mind... Weyer's portrayal of women diverges from that of Kramer only in his assessment of the witch's responsibility." (Wilkin, pp. 13-14)."The essentially melancholic imagination of women, he argues, makes them incapable of the sense perception to which he assigned pride of place in the search for truth. The madness with which Weyer diagnosed witches thus masked the contradiction that vitiated his plea. Identifying the susceptibility to demonic illusion as a feminine trait was to compartmentalize it, to limit implicitly the damage that the Devil could inflict elsewhere - for instance, on the perception of learned physicians. Those who refuted "De praestigiis daemonum" rejected the hermeneutical advantage that Weyer claimed for himself. To the gender strategy by which he claimed his advantage, however, they did not object. Weyer's vociferous adversary, Jean Bodin, decried the physician's medical diagnosis of witches; nevertheless, he called upon woman to embody his opposing hermeneutics. The phenomenon that Clark has felicitously termed "thinking with demons" was thus, I argue, inseparable from another thought process: "Thinking with women"." (Wilkin, pp. 9-10).The "Démonomanie" also constitutes a seminal exercise in jurisprudence, which came to set the standard for following decades. Bodin's aim was not only to make sure that witches were judged and punished, he also aimed at fair trial rules according to principles of law developed over centuries in the secular and ecclesiastical courts. Also in this way, the work differs profoundly from other works on demonology and witchcraft and shows us the author as a profound political and legal thinker, whose aim was to alter society for the better. Because this interesting work places itself amidst the divine and the earthly, between the supernatural and the natural, we find in it a wealth of themes that go beyond the actual witch trial with which Bodin begins his work. It is also for these reasons that the work provides us with an even more thorough knowledge of the foundational thoughts of the great legal and political thinker that is its author. See: Rebecca May Wilkin: Women, Imagination and the Search for Truth in Early Modern France, 2008.Jean Bodin: On the Demon-Mania of Witches. Translated by Randy A. Scott with an Introduction by Jonathan L. Pearl, 1995. Ursula Lange: Untersuchungen zu Bodins Demonomanie, 1970.