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Rudi Thoemmes Rare Books

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A Discourse concerning Natural and Revealed Religion. Evidencing the Truth and Certainty of both; by Considerations (for the most part) not yet touched by any. Recommended to the consideration of Atheists

A Discourse concerning Natural and Revealed Religion. Evidencing the Truth and Certainty of both; by Considerations (for the most part) not yet touched by any. Recommended to the consideration of Atheists, Deists, and Scepticks. London: Jonathan Robinson, 1696.

NYE, Stephen Rare first edition by Stephen Nye (1648-1719), with one of two variant title-pages from the same year. ESTC 14 copies in the British Isles, 2 in Europe and 7 in N. America. The book was reprinted in Glasgow by Foulis in 1752. 'In this book, in which Nye claimed to be pursuing the design of the Boyle Lectures, he distinguished two traditions of atheism. Against the first, which he traced to the ancient atomists and associated with Hobbes, he offered two of the a posteriori arguments for the existence of a powerful and wise Creator – ‘from the beauty, immensity and stability of the cosmical system’ and ‘from the aims, designs, or ends, so manifestly appearing in parts of the world’. Some of Nye’s arguments are relevant to both kinds of atheist. But he thought the second kind, whom he regarded as the ‘most dangerous’, needed a special refutation. Against them he sought to establish that the world was contingent and had to have a cause outside itself. Nye had shown his manuscript to others before having it published and his correspondence about it with a radical Socinian, Henry Hedworth (‘H.H.’), was included as an Appendix. Hedworth disputed whether his answer to Spinoza was an adequate one. Nye’s reply indicates his failure to take the measure of Spinoza’s position. He assumed, wrongly, that Spinoza was committed to the view that the Sun’s motions depended on its eternal nature and thought it sufficient to establish that, on the contrary, the Sun is a contingent thing. Another issue raised by Hedworth was in relation to his argument for an afterlife based on the ‘universal belief among all nations’ and therefore on the supposedly innate principle that every virtuous action must have its reward and every evil one an appropriate punishment. Hedworth drew attention to Locke’s objections to innate principles in his Essay, and Nye’s reply is of some interest in this context as a defence of innatism' (Dictionary of Seventeenth-Century British Philosophers, Thoemmes Press, 2000). PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 8vo, [x], 235 pp., contemporary calf panelled in blind, rubbed, worn at corners, some careful restoration to spine, outer endpapers partly gone to reveal printer's waste on the pastedowns, K2 with a paper flaw, isolated spots, a tiny worm trace in bottom margin late on, no stamps or inscriptions, a very good clean copy.
  • $2,258
  • $2,258
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  • $1,949
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Differenz des Fichte’schen und Schelling’schen Systems der Philosophie in Beziehung auf Reinhold’s Beyträge zur leichtern Uebersicht des Zustands der Philosophie zu Anfang des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts, 1stes Heft. Jena: in der akademischen Buchhandlung bey Seidler, 1801.

HEGEL, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich First edition of Hegel's first book, the so-called Differenzschrift, an important milestone in the development of German idealism post-Kant. For an account of how Hegel's own annotated copy found its way from a Berlin bookshop to a school library in Tokyo where it was discovered in 2014, see Hegel-Studien Vol. 49, pp. 157-70. 'In The Difference between Fichte's and Schelling's System of Philosophy, Hegel set out that difference in terms of a contrast between reflective and speculative philosophy. Dichotomy, rupture [Entzweiung], he argued, gives rise to the need for philosophy, a rupturing which reflective philosophy both seeks to resolve and exasperates. The understanding strives to enlarge itself to the absolute, but, in its finitude, it only reproduces itself endlessly, positing oppositions within itself and its products, and so mocks itself. The being of nature, in particular, is either disolved into abstractions or remains but a deadly darkness within the intellect. Although Fichte was Hegel's prime target here, much of contemporary philosophy was included in his critique. Hegel argued that the identity philosophy of Schelling, however, in which reason raises itself to speculation and provides a positive account of being, overcomes such finitudes and ruptures. The Kritische Journal der Philosophie that Schelling and Hegel launched from Jena in 1802, critical of the limitations of proliferating philosophical systems, sought to establish an objective philosophical criticism based upon such a speculative use of reason' (Joan Steigerwald, Studies in Romanticism, Vol. 41, No. 4., 2002, p. 545). PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 8vo, xii, [13]-184 pp., 20th-century marbled boards with red spine label lettered in gilt, ownership inscription on front free endpaper, no stamps and no other inscriptions, uniform light age toning and a very few isolated spots, an excellent copy with wide margins, uncut.
  • $9,137
  • $9,137
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Critik der Urtheilskraft. Berlin und Libau: Lagarde und Friederich, 1790.

KANT, Immanuel First edition of Kant's third and final Critique - The Critique of Judgement - the scarcest of his major works. It lays the foundation for modern aesthetics and is divided into two parts, the Critique of Aesthetic Judgement and the Critique of Teleological Judgement . Kant's long introduction provides an extensive overview of his entire critical system. Goethe said the Critique of Judgement was the first philosophical book ever to move him, and Fichte called it 'the crown of the critical philosophy'. Warda 125; Adickes 71. 'Scholars have long asked a basic question about the two halves of the Critique of Judgment. What do the beautiful and sublime have to do with any alleged necessity of taking a teleological approach to the study of organisms? One avenue for finding unity across these topics is to connect both to the idea of a purpose. Kant provides a definition of purpose (and the related notion of 'purposiveness') in the Introduction. A purpose is "the concept of an object, insofar as it at the same time contains the ground of reality of this object . . . The correspondence of a thing with that constitution of things that is possible only in accordance with ends [purposes] is called the purposiveness of its form." He maintains that beautiful art is purposive without a purpose. It does not aim at some good, yet it can only be understood as possible in accord with purposes. In a similar way, the arrangement of parts in an organism is contingent with respect of the basic laws of matter; yet it is purposive because the possibility of this arrangement can be understood only as the product of a purpose' (Patricia Kitcher, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, Oct. 2015). PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 8vo, lviii, 476, [1] pp., contemporary boards with green spine label lettered gilt, rubbed and worn at extremities, title-page with hint of an old pencilled name at the top, pages exceptionally fresh and unspotted, internally the cleanest copy we have seen.
  • $6,700
  • $6,700
Oeuvres philosophiques latines et françoises de feu Mr. de Leibnitz. Tirées de ses manuscrits et publiées par Mr. Rud[olf] Eric[h] Raspe. Avec une préface de Mr. Kaestner Amsterdam et Leipzig: Jean Schreuder

Oeuvres philosophiques latines et françoises de feu Mr. de Leibnitz. Tirées de ses manuscrits et publiées par Mr. Rud[olf] Eric[h] Raspe. Avec une préface de Mr. Kaestner Amsterdam et Leipzig: Jean Schreuder, 1765.

LEIBNIZ, Gottfried Wilhelm First edition. Ravier 472. 'Nouveaux essais sur l'entendement humain' takes up almost all (520 pages) of this volume. Written in 1703-05 in reaction to John Locke's 'Essay concerning Humane Understanding', Leibniz delayed publication when he heard of Locke's death because he thought it unfair publicly to attack someone who could no longer defend himself. Kant read the text closely four years after publication: 'the year '69 gave me great light' (Reflexionen 5037, 18:68). The title is something of a misnomer: the essais are couched in the form of a dialogue between Locke's spokesman Philalethes, who quotes from Coste's translation of the Essay, and Theophiles who replies for Leibniz. Modern commentators consider this text a high-water mark: Catherine Wilson calls it 'undoubtedly Leibniz's best composition: the richest, the most tightly argued, the most fertile ' ; and Peter Remnant and Jonathan Bennett say in the introduction to their Cambridge edition 'any attentive reader of the New Essays must receive a dominant impression of being in the presence of a powerful, restless, superbly sharp intelligence'. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 4to, half-title, [ii], xvi, [i], 540, [17] pp., contemporary calf, rubbed, spine richly gilt in compartments, morocco label a little worn, armorial bookplate on pastedown and ownership inscription of Joseph (Ferdinand), Count of Rheinstein-Tattenbach on title-page, light foxing in places, a very good copy.
  • $3,898
  • $3,898
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A Critical and Philosophical Enquiry into the Causes of Prodigies and Miracles, as related by Historians. With an Essay towards restoring a Method and Purity in History. In Which, The Characters of the most celebrated Writers of every Age, and of the several Stages and Species of History, are occasionally criticized and explained. In two parts. London: Thomas Corbett, 1727.

WARBURTON, William First edition of a scarce early work by the leading religious polemicist and sometime Bishop of Gloucester, William Warburton (1698-1779). 'Warburton s first publication of any note was an anonymously published anti-Catholic and anti-deist tract entitled A Critical and Philosophical Enquiry into the Causes of Prodigies and Miracles (1727). In this work which he later disowned to the extent of buying up copies and destroying them he laid down a theory of why the ancients had been more credulous than the moderns as to the meaning and reality of prodigies and portents. He defended the miracles of the early Christian centuries as necessary truths, serving as impressive witnesses to the veracity of the faith, while he distinguished them from purely Roman Catholic MIRACLES, which he dismissed as credulous impostures' (Dictionary of Eighteenth-Century British Philosophers, Thoemmes Press, 1999). PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 12mo, xxii, 137, [6] pp., contemporary gilt-panelled calf, spine with floral motif in compartments, rubbed and scraped, joints starting at foot but firm, armorial bookplate of Henry Howard, 4th Earl of Berkshire dated 1720, internally clean, a very good copy.
  • $1,053
  • $1,053
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Summary and Free Reflections, in which the Great Outline only, and Principal Features, of Several Interesting Subjects, are impartially traced, and candidly examined. [Taunton, Chelmsford and London?] Printed in the year 1798 .

JENNINGS, Henry Constantine A curious and complex collection of tracts on a variety of matters, preceded by a 10-page introduction; some had appeared in an earlier collection published in Chelmsford in 1783. The tracts are: An endeavour to prove that reason is alone sufficient to the firm establishment of religion, "first printed in 1771;" Appendix to the tenth tract, "first printed in 1783;" A Physical Enquiry into the Powers and Properties of Spirit, "first printed in 1787;" Postscript to the Physical Enquiry into the Powers and Properties of Spirit, &c.; Revision of the Postscript to the Physical Enquiry, &c. &c., "first printed in 1789;" My final fare-well to this interesting subject, with the imprint "Thomas Norris, printed, White-Lion-Court, Taunton;" Cursory Remarks on Infancy and Education, first printed in 1782;" Thoughts on the Rise and Decline of the Polite Arts, "first printed in 1771;" A Translation [in verse] of the Fifth Canto of Dante's Inferno, dated Sept. 13, 1794; Observations on the Advantages attending an Elevated and Dry Situation; A Free Enquiry into the Enormous Increase of Attornies., in six parts, dated 1783 and 1784. Very uncommon. Henry Constantine Jennings (1731-1819), collector, writer and eccentric. Jennings went through various inheritances buying art, and was twice imprisoned for debt. "The Annual Biography offers an entertaining, firsthand account of Jennings during his later years. A visitor, after encountering a stuffed polar bear in the entrance hall, might find his host reclining on his ‘Roman triclinium’, amid heaps of ancient and modern rubbish, apparently lost in the contemplation of his riches. He forbade any cleaning of his rooms, living by preference in complete squalor. At one time his regular dinner companion was his most prized treasure, a bronze bust of a goddess, set at the head of his table. One of his more bizarre collections was that of shoes, which he obtained from every woman of his acquaintance. Jennings's omnivorous tastes and collecting mania were legendary—his various residences overflowed with thousands of items of art objects, as well as natural history specimens and scientific instruments—but the low prices these objects fetched at the sales (apart from his valuable and rare shell collection) reveal that his discernment was generally poor' (ODNB). PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Twelve parts bound in one volume, separately paginated, contemporary speckled calf with triple gilt fillet, spine gilt-ruled, covers rubbed, spine label nicked, lower joint partly cracked, a very short crack at top of upper joint, generally very good.
  • $619
Miscellanies Historical and Philological: being a Curious Collection of Private Papers found in the Study of a Noble-Man
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Sendschreiben von der Toleranz, oder von der Religions- und Gewissens-Freyheit. Aus dem Lateinischen Exemplar übersetzt und mit einigen nüsslichen Anmerckungen erläutert. Aufs neue gedruckt, 1714 [bound after] RELAND, Adrianus: Zwey Bücher von der Türckischen oder Mohammedischen Religion. Hanover: Nicolaus Förstern, 1716.

Very rare German edition of Locke's famous Letter on Toleration, a line-by-line reprint of the first translation by Olearius published four years earlier in 1710. Olearius worked from the original Latin edition Epistola de tolerantia, either in its first edition of 1689 or its second of 1705. Yolton 22. The accompanying work is the rare first German translation of De religione mohammedica libri duo (1705) by Adrianus Reland (1676-1718); 'a landmark in the history of the Enlightenment and as a turning-point in Western attitudes towards Islam. It is a compendium of Muslim beliefs, presented rather objectively, in an edition of original Arab manuscripts, with an annotated Latin translation. In the second part Reland offered a systematic confutation of the numerous legends and misapprehensions concerning Islam. It was the first time that a study of Islam had been written without the clear intention to convert Muslims' (Dictionary of 17th and 18th-Century Dutch Philosophers, Thoemmes Press, 2003). PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Two works in one volume, 8vo, engraved frontispiece depicting the prophet Muhammad, first title-page printed in red and black, [xl], 237, [7], [blank], [xii], 124 pp., contemporary half calf, rubbed, worn with loss at spine ends and front joint, the Reland text with one or two pencilled letters in the margin, uniform browning throughout, some dampstains and spots, reasonable copies of both works.