“LONG RANKED AS A STANDARD AUTHORITY”: STANLEY’S HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY, 1687 FIRST ONE-VOLUME FOLIO EDITION

STANLEY, Thomas. The History of Philosophy: Containing the Lives, Opinions, Actions and Discourses of the Philosophers of Every Sect. London: Thomas Bassett, 1687. Folio (10 by 14-1/2 inches), contemporary full dark brown speckled calf rebacked in calf-gilt, red morocco spine label, raised bands. $3500.

Second edition—first one volume folio edition—of this important 17th-century work on philosophy, with engraved frontispiece portrait of the author. An impressive folio edition.

Poet and translator Stanley's study of philosophy was first published in four volumes between 1655 and 1662. It is "a long series of biographies, chiefly of the Greek philosophers from Thales to Carneades. The greater part was derived from Diogenes Laertius; but the analysis of the Platonic philosophy was from Alcinous, and the account of the Peripatetic system was derived directly from Aristotle. The doctrine of the Stoics was elaborately worked up from various authorities. Stanley on the whole brought a good deal from an almost untrodden field; but he was a historian rather than a critic of philosophy. The compilation long ranked as a standard authority. It was republished in one volume in 1687" with a third edition in 1700 and a fourth edition in 1743 (DNB). Early owner signature.

Text generally clean. Expert restoration to contemporary speckled calf boards. A very good copy of this folio edition.