Adam

Essays on Philosophical Subjects. To which is prefixed an accounts of the life and writings of the author; by Dugald Stewart F.R.S.E.

réf. 111254London printed for T. Cadell Jun. and W. Davies Successors to Mr. Cadell in the strand; and W. Creech Edinburgh 1795. . First edition; 4to 28.5 x 23 cm; armorial bookplate to front pastedown pinhole to top-margin of Q2-2A leading to small tear 2A2-2D2 small paper flaw to P4 verso not affecting text slight spotting to endpapers a little offsetting to text otherwise internally clean; contemporary mottled calf covers ruled in gilt gilt spine in 6 compartments joints and spine caps restored contrasting red morocco lettering-piece renewed sprinkled edges a few marks to covers a handsome copy; xcv 1 244pp. The first edition of these posthumously published 'philosophical' essays by Adam Smith d.1790 on astronomy the history of physics and metaphysical enquiries including dancing poetry and the external senses prefixed with an extensive life of the author by his great populariser Dugald Stewart. These essays were left to his literary executors his friends the physicist-chemist Joseph Black and geologist James Hutton 'to be disposed of as they thought proper' with Smith destroying much of his other manuscript material prior to his death in an apparent effort to cultivate his posthumous reputation. They once formed part of a greater project to write 'a sort of Philosophical History of all the different branches of Literature of Philosophy Poetry and Eloquence and a sort of theory and History of Law and Government' not realised in his lifetime Letter to Le Duc de la Rochefoucauld 1st November 1785. The History of Astronomy is the most advanced of these opening with a discussion of the origin of philosophy. Thought to have been written in the 1750s before his other major works were published it contains one of his earliest mentions of the 'invisible hand' in reference to the capricious power of the Roman god Jupiter: 'For it may be observed that in all Polytheistic religions. it is the irregular events of nature only that are ascribed to the agency and power of their gods. Fire burns and water refreshes; heavy body descend and light substances fly upwards by the necessity of their own nature; nor was the invisible hand of Jupiter apprehended to be employed in those matters' p.25. With excellent provenance for Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Rowland Brandreth 1794-1848 a Royal Engineer who served as Commissioner under the Boundary Act and later Director of Works to the Admiralty. In 1838 he was offered the governorship of South Australia by Lord Glenelg but declined. ESTC T33499; Goldsmith's 16218; Rothschild 1902; Adam Smith Correspondence p.287 London, printed for T. Cadell Jun. and W. Davies (Successors to Mr. Cadell) in the strand; and W. Creech, Edinburgh, 1795. unknown

Shapero Rare Books · Royaume-Uni7 500,00 £GB≈ 8 957,58 €

Adam

Adam

Siècle

Langue

Pays du libraire

Photos

Ajouté

Sujets

Catalogues

Siècle

Langue

Pays du libraire

Photos

Ajouté

Sujets

Catalogues

Siècle

Langue

Pays du libraire

Photos

Ajouté

Sujets

Catalogues