Philosophy

London: Arthur L. Humphreys, 1899. 2 volume set, 8 3/4 inches tall. A sparkling full crushed morocco binding by Bayntun Riviere. With gilt raised bands and finely gilt tooled panels and boards. Gilt dentelles and top edges, the remaining edges deckled. A pristine set of one of Humphreys luxurious printings on hand made paper. From the Library of the Late Christopher Foyle of Beeleigh Abbey. Waldo Emerson was American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century.

London: Richard Taylor, 1832. Full morocco, 11 inches tall. A superb c.1835 full red morocco with gilt raised bands, ornate floral gilt tooling to the panels and a wide gilt roll and fillets to the boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges. With a tiny ink inscription on the first blank reading: ‘With E. C. Harding’s best wishes 1835’. With this work Lucretius was a great influence on the Augustan poets and on philosophers of the Enlightenment constructing a new Christian humanism. In the original Latin.

London: John W. Parker, 1847. 2 volume set, 9 inches tall. A splendid set from Alfred de Rothschild's library (but without the bookplate) in classic Victorian full calf in pristine condition. With gilt raised bands, twin labels and extra gilt panels. Twin fillets and tiny corner tools frame the boards. The remarkable English polymath, William Whewell, scientist, natural philosopher and theologian, was an important and influential figure still recognized today, partly from his skill as a neologist, coming up with such terms as scientist, physicist, linguistics, consilience, catastrophism, uniformitarianism, and astigmatism and, with Michael Faraday, such words as electrode, ion, dielectric, anode, and cathode. An impressive set.

Delft et Leiden: Beman et Samuel Luchtmans, 1729. Full morocco, 8.5 inches tall. A glorious binding by Clarke & Bedford with gilt raised bands, superb gilt tooling around a pomegranate centre tool, dentelles quadruple gilt fillet framing the boards. All edges gilt over marble. Engraved frontispiece and title page. A superb copy of these dialogues on many and various subjects, hugely influential on Christian Humanists, by the greatest scholar of the northern Renaissance. In the original Latin.

London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1858. 2 volume set, 7 inches tall. A very handsome little set of this very scarce title with gilt raised bands, delicate gilt tooling to the panels and gilt top edges. Slight foxing to the preliminaries. With the bookplate of St. Benedict's Library, Fort William. The remarkable Kenelm Digby, most famous for his 'The Broad Stone of Honour, or Rules for the Gentlemen of England', was born in Ireland of old English stock and was a great enthusiast for chivalry, monarchy and the Church. He blamed the Reformation for the death of chivalry and religion. During the Victorian period, he wielded much influence and stimulated much debate.

New York: Derby and Jackson, 1859. 4 volume set, 7 1/2 inches tall. A very bright Victorian half calf with gilt raised bands, twin labels and extra gilt panels. There is some foxing to, and facing, the engraved portrait in volume one, the rest of the text in all four volumes is perfectly clean. Slight rubbing and scuffing. A very handsome set of the Works, in English, of this great 16th century French philosopher.

London: Wingrave, 1806. Full Calf, 8 1/2 inches tall. A most attractive Georgian binding with gilt bands, delicately tooled centre tooling and twin fillets and blind corner tools framing the boards. Frontispiece. With the bookplate of M. General Sir Charles Stewart of Wynyard Park. Some slight rubbing, nevertheless a most pleasing example of one of the most important and influential 18th century works on language. From the library of Charles William Vane (formerly Stewart), third Marquess of Londonderry. Vane served with distinction throughout the Peninsula War. His dashing and dandified portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence is at the National Portrait Gallery. He amassed magnificent libraries in his various Country Houses.

London: Adam and Charles Black, 1894. Half morocco, 7 1/4 inches tall. An ornate and very fine binding by Zaehnsdorf with the title in a cartouche surrounded by pointillist gilt tooling on a smooth back. Gilt top edge. With the rather foxed 'Arthurian' bookplate upside down on the rear paste down endpaper. Subtitled ...'as Connecting Religion and Science. The Confession of Faith of a Man of Science'. Translated into English from the original German. Haeckel was an extraordinary and flamboyant figure who, amongst many other claims to fame, promoted and popularised Charles Darwin's work in Germany.

London: Arthur L. Humphreys, 1906. Half morocco, 6 1/2 inches tall. A good looking Edwardian binding with gilt raised bands, neat gilt panels and gilt top edge. From the Library of the Late Christopher Foyle of Beeleigh Abbey. A pristine example of a finely printed work on hand-made paper by Humphreys. 'Sesame and Lilies', first published in 1865, stands as a classic nineteenth-century statement on the natures and duties of men and women.

Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1869. Half calf, 8.75 inches tall. A handsome copy of this memoir of this celebrated Scottish Metaphysician. Portrait. Half calf with gilt raised bands, label and gilt panels.