BAUMAN RARE BOOKS 52 “In All Cities And All Peoples There Still Exist, And Have Always Existed, The Same Desires And Passions” 75MACHIAVELLI, Niccolo. Discourses. upon the first Decade of T. Livius. London, 1636. Thick 12mo (3-1/4 by 5-3/4 inches), contemporary full brown calf rebacked in calf-gilt. $8000 First edition in English of Machiavelli’s commentaries on the work of the Roman historian Livy, a founding document of modern republicanism. Discourses on Livy “is as essential to an understanding of Machiavelli as his famous treatise, The Prince… Machiavelli’s close analysis of Livy’s history of Rome led him to advance his most original and outspoken view of politics—the belief that a healthy political body was characterized by social friction and conflict rather than by rigid stability” (Oxford University Press). John Adams “insisted that the ‘world’ was much indebted to Machiavelli for ‘the revival of reason in matters of government” (C. Bradley Thompson). Occasional soiling and light dampstaining to text, title page with a bit of expert paper repair to one small hole and lower corner, not affecting lettering. Contemporary calf boards with expert marginal restoration. An extremely good copy, in beautifully restored contemporary calf boards. “Produced A Fermentation Of English Thought Unsurpassed Until The Advent Of Darwinism” (PMM) 74HOBBES, Thomas. The Moral and Political Works. London, 1750. Folio (9-1/2 by 14 inches), contemporary full brown mottled calf gilt rebacked. $8500 First collected edition of the Works of Thomas Hobbes, “the most original political philosopher of his time” (PMM), featuring such seminal writings as Leviathan, De Corpore, Human Nature, Behemoth and others, in contemporary calf binding. The Works of Thomas Hobbes spans “one of the most momentous periods of English history, and he was one of its most conspicuous figure,” celebrated for writings such Human Nature (1650) well before he “embarked on his greatest work Leviathan (1651)” (PMM 138). It was there that Hobbes “produced a fermentation in English thought not surpassed until the advent of Darwinism… It still remains a model of vigorous exposition, unsurpassed in the language” (Pforzheimer 491). Preceded only by a partial collection printed in Amsterdam in 1668. Interior quite fresh, mild wear to handsome contemporary mottled calf boards.
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