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THE BIRTH OF THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD: RARE FIRST EDITION OF FRANCIS BACON’S NOVUM ORGANUM, 1620
BACON, Francis. Novum Organum. London, 1620. First edition of Bacon’s Novum Organum (a “new instrument” to replace the old Organon of Aristotle), which had a revolutionary impact on early modern science by laying the foundation of the inductive method. $38,000.
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FLUDD’S “NEOPLATONIST—CABALIST—ALCHEMICAL INTERPRETATION
OF THE UNIVERSE”
FLUDD, Robert. Mosaicall Philosophy. London, 1659. First edition in English of Fludd’s “grand synthesis of knowledge,” based on intricate, interwoven theories of mysticism, natural magic, Neoplatonism, alchemy, hermeticism and Paracelsianism, featuring numerous woodcut engravings. $24,000.
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“THE WORKS OF PLATO MAY BE PROPERLY CONSIDERED THE SCRIPTURES OF THE ANCIENT WORLD
PLATO. Works. London, 1804. Five volumes. First edition of the first complete English translation of Plato’s works, prepared by the leading Platonist of his day, still considered unequaled. From the library and with the bookplates of Francis Currer, “England’s earliest female bibliophile” and close friend of Charlotte Brontë, who reportedly adopted the pseudonym of Currer Bell in honor of her. Handsomely bound. $22,000.
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“ONE OF THE GREATEST MASTERPIECES OF POLITICAL THEORY”
MONTESQUIEU, [Charles Louis] de Secondat, Baron de. The Spirit of Laws. London, 1750. Two volumes. First edition in English of Montesquieu’s classic De L’Esprit Des Loix, an enormous influence on American and French revolutionary thought, translated by Thomas Nugent and published just two years after the first French edition, scarce in contemporary calf boards. $16,000.
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MARK TWAIN’S OWN ANNOTATED COPY OF
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI
VILLARI, Pasquale. Life and Times of Niccolo Machiavelli. London, 1892. Two volumes. Later edition in English of Villari’s two-volume study of Machiavelli and the political and social environment in which he wrote, with frontispiece portraits and 30 full-page illustrations. This copy is wonderfully annotated in Mark Twain’s hand on ten pages, with such side comments as “the social world of Europe revealed under a lightning flash,” “we have the barnstormers in place of this,” and “a use for aristocracy.” $15,000.
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MAGNIFICENT DOVES PRESS DELUXE EDITION OF EMERSON’S ESSAYS: ONE OF ONLY 25 COPIES PRINTED ENTIRELY ON VELLUM
EMERSON, Ralph Waldo. Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Hammersmith, 1906. Deluxe Doves Press edition of Emerson’s Essays, one of only 25 copies beautifully printed on vellum by the Doves Press (out of a total edition of 325 copies), in lovely publisher’s full vellum. Rare. $14,000.
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“THE ORIGIN OF MODERN IDEAS OF DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY”
[LOCKE, John]. Some Thoughts Concerning Education. London, 1693. First edition of Locke’s important anonymously published “excellent little treatise” (DNB) on education. “Historians and theorists of education trace the origin of modern ideas of developmental psychology to Locke” (Attig, x). $12,000.
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“HIS FIRST IMPORTANT THEOLOGICAL WRITINGS”
AQUINAS, Thomas. Super quarto libro sententiarum. Venice, 23 May 1497. Incunable Venetian printing of Thomas Aquinas’ early and important theological commentary on Petrus Lombardus’ “Sentences,” finely printed with numerous woodcut initials, in contemporary vellum. An attractive incunable. $12,000.
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TWO LENGTHY TYPED LETTERS DATED 1967 FROM AYN RAND TO PLAYBOY EDITORIAL DIRECTOR A.C. SPECTORSKY ON ART, WOMEN, AND SEX, BOTH SIGNED BY AYN RAND
RAND, Ayn. Two typed letters signed. New York, January 14 and 19, 1967. Two original typed letters from Ayn Rand to A.C. Spectorsky, the editorial director of Playboy, regarding Rand’s refusal to comment on an article in the 1967 December issue of Playboy and Rand’s decision to instead provide a lengthy Letter to the Editor on good art, sex, and women’s bodies, both letters signed by Ayn Rand. $9500.
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“THERE IS A TRUE RING OF GENIUS ABOUT ALL THAT HE SAYS”
BACON, Francis. Works. London, 1740. Four volumes. First collected edition of Bacon’s Works, a handsome four-volume folio production featuring his Novum Organum, Essays, History of the Reign of King Henry VII and Mallet’s Life of Francis Bacon, with four copper-engraved frontispiece plates, scarce in contemporary calf gilt. $9000.
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