Shapero Rare Books · 5 Shapero Rare Books 6 1. BACON, FrANCis. The Tvvoo Bookes of Francis Bacon....

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item 19 - MALTHUS, Thomas Robert. An essay on the principle of population...


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BACON, FrANCis. The Tvvoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the Proficience and Aduancement of Learning, Diuine and Humane. To the King. Printed [by Thomas Purfoot and Thomas Creede] for Henrie Tomes, and are to be sould at his shop at Graies Inne gate in Holborne, At London: 1605.

First edition oF the First great work oF english PhilosoPhy.

“In October 1605 he published The Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon: of the Proficience and Advancement of Learning, Divine and Humane. It was the product of his two enforced periods of leisure, first from March 1603 to March 1604 and then from December 1604 to October 1605. The Advancement of Learning, as it is commonly called, was Bacon’s first published philosophical work and the only one which he published in English.

The Advancement of Learning was divided into two books. The first was an eloquent and powerful defence of the importance of learning to every field of life. It was therefore constructed according to the principles of epideictic oratory. The much longer and more important second book was a general survey of the contemporary state of human knowledge, identifying its deficiencies and supplying Bacon’s broad suggestions for improvement. The book’s real importance was not so much its encyclopaedic character but rather its professed aim of propagating the Baconian ideas of the advancement of learning and knowledge, and of the practical means of accomplishing it.” (ODNB).

It is in this work that Bacon sketched out the main themes and ideas that he continued to refine and develop throughout his career, beginning with the notion that there are clear obstacles to or diseases of learning that must be avoided or purged before further progress is possible.

First edition. 4to. [1], 45; 118 (but 121) leaves, without the 2 leaves of errata (normally only found in late issues) and final blank Hhh2 as often, old ownership inscription to title,contemporary calf, rebacked, neat repairs to edges, a fine copy. Gibson 81; Grolier, Science, 8a; Pforzheimer 36, STC 1164.

ref: 91913 £5,000

1.


[BiBLE, ENgLish] - The English Bible containing the Old Testament & the New translated out of the Original Tongues by special command of His Majesty King James the First and now reprinted with the text revised by a collation of its early and other principal editions and edited by the late Rev. F.H. Scrivener... for the Syndics of the University Press

Cambridge. Doves Press, London, 1903.

the single most imPortant book in the history oF ideas and a Fine set oF this landmark oF the Private Press movement.

Around 1900, the Jenson Roman types served as inspirations for the founders of the Doves Press, bookbinder T. J. Cobden-Sanderson and engraver Emery Walker, who had both been closely associated with the Kelmscott Press of William Morris. While Morris’ notion of the book as a handmade, organic totality lay behind the Doves Press’ enterprise, the Doves rejected Morris’ ornate style in favor of an uncompromisingly austere modernism. In the Doves Press Bible, published in five volumes between 1903 and 1905, we see foreshadowed the eventual triumph of minimalism in later twentieth-century book design.

There is, however, one very striking exception to the austerity: the coup de théâtre of the initial “I” in red used for the opening of Genesis: “In the Beginning...” This initial, which runs down the entire margin of the page, was designed and executed by calligrapher Edward Johnston and forms an iconic start to a masterpiece of printing and design.

Five volumes folio. Edition limited to 503 copies of which this is one of 500 on paper, printed in red and black, a very few gatherings spotted as often, original limp vellum, uncut, well preseved in two blue morocco-edged slipcases. Ransom Doves 6.

ref: 90264 £10,000

ThE grEAT DOvEs BiBLE

2.


BOUrKE-WhiTE, MArgArET. A pair of photographs of the American Stock Exchange. Curb Exchange; Wall Street Brokers, 1936.

two Fine PhotograPhs oF the american stock exchange.

In 1908, the New York Curb Market Agency was established, to codify trading practices. In 1911, the curbstone brokers came to be known as the New York Curb Market, which then had a formal constitution with brokerage and listing standards. After several years of outdoor trading, the curbstone brokers moved indoors in 1921 to a building on Greenwich Street in Lower Manhattan. In 1929, the New York Curb Market changed its name to the New York Curb Exchange. Within no time, the Curb Exchange became the leading international stock market, listing more foreign issues than all other U.S. securities markets combined. In 1953 the Curb Exchange was renamed the American Stock Exchange.

Margaret Bourke-Whitte (1904-1971) was an American photographer and documentary photographer. She is best known as the first foreign photographer permitted to take pictures of Soviet industry, the first American female war photojournalist, and the first female photographer for Henry Luce’s Life magazine, where her photograph appeared on the first cover.

Two gelatin silver prints, each with title and credit printed and REF DEPT 12-11-36 N.E.A stamp verso, 24 x 18.9cm and the reverse. Excellent condition.

ref: 92023 £5,000

3.


CArEY, gEOrgE g. Every man his own stock-broker. With the manner of transferring stock; rules for calculating the value of any quantity of stock bought or sold, at any time; the value of life annuities; the rate of interest; the amount of the half-yearly dividends, the interest and the cost of exchequer bills, India bonds’ omnium, &c.: to which are added rules for standarding gold and silver coins and bullion, and for calculating its value; with extensive tables of the value, weight, and fineness of the current gold and silver coins of the principal countries in the world. J. Jonhston, London, 1821.

George Carey’s work on the stock market marks a sea change. He was one of the very few, if not the first author to promote the merits of investment in the public funds. Unlike Defoe and Mortimer, who a hundred years previously had warned of the dangers of speculation, and vilified the jobbers, he claims:

“The facility by which property of this kind can be turned into cash is an inducement for preferring it to almost any other species of property.” Adding, “The regular payment of the interest on the government funds and the number of persons who prefer the yield to the hazardous profits obtained from the trade, occasion continual purchases of the various shares that are exposed to the market ...”

This was a book that captured the zeitgeist of the time: “[Access to literacy] was also important to the mass migration of money. There was a sharp upturn in financial publications after 1815... Publications such as Every man his own stock-broker made the allure of investment vivid for Britons, and there were similar developments in the United States at the same time” (Belish, Replenishing the Earth).

A scarce book. OCLC locates just one copy of this second edition (Chicago) and two copies of the 1820 first edition that was also published by Johnston (Institute of Social History in the Netherlands, British Library).

Second Edition. 8vo., viii, 116pp., some marginal spotting, contemporary brown calf, rebacked to style, wear to edges, a very good copy. Goldsmiths’-Kress 23231.5.

ref: 90524 £2,500

4.


DEsCArTEs, rENé. Discours de la methode pour bien conduire sa raison, & chercher la verité dans les sciences. Plus la dioptrique. Les meteores. Et la geometrie. Jan Marie, Leiden, 1637.

a beautiFul coPy oF one oF the most inFluential works in the history oF modern PhilosoPhy.

Published in 1637, the Discours de la methode, together with the later Meditations on First Philosophy, Principles of Philosophy and Rules for the Direction of the Mind, forms the base of the epistemology known as Cartesianism. This work marks a clear break with the Scholastic tradition, which Descartes deemed too “speculative”. It can be seen as a plea for a new form of science, based on more solid foundations. By having it published in French, Descartes aimed to oppose the Scholastic tradition of writing in Latin. Indeed, the French philosopher wanted to address a broader audience than merely scholars and theologians. He claimed he wanted “women and children to understand his work”.

In the Discours, Descartes tackles the problem of scepticism. He starts his line of reasoning by doubting everything, so as to assess the world from a fresh perspective, clear of any preconceived notions. Descartes then searches for an absolute truth, i.e. something that cannot be challenged, so as to build a whole chain of logical deductions based on that starting point. After realizing that he cannot doubt the fact that he is capable of thinking, he states the famous phrase : “I think therefore I am” (je pense donc je suis - cogito ergo sum) in Part IV of the work. This is Descartes’ starting point, his unquestionable certainty. It enables him to go on and propose a methode (made up of four rules) aimed at avoiding mistakes.

Descartes also presents his meditations on God and the soul, on which he later commented in greater depth in the Méditations métaphysiques, four years later. In the Discours, Descartes also writes about such matters as animals, human anatomy, and the connection between man and nature. Regarding the latter topic, Descartes sees this relationship as representative of modernity, given that “man has to be the master and possessor of nature” through the advancement of science and skills, and especially by improving his knowledge in the medical field.

René Descartes (1596 – 1650) was a French philosopher, mathematician and writer who spent most of his life in the Dutch Republic. He has been dubbed the father of modern philosophy, and much subsequent Western philosophy is a response to his writings, which are studied closely to this day. Descartes laid the foundation for 17th-century continental rationalism, later advocated by Baruch Spinoza and Gottfried Leibniz, and opposed by the empiricist school of thought consisting of Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley, and Hume.

First edition. 4to (21.1 x 15.5 cm), woodcut vignette on title, numerous diagrams in the text, occasional light spotting (light browning to signature N), contemporary vellum, title in ink on spine, preserved in fine purpose-made suede-lined morocco case, lettered in gilt on spine. A fine, well-margined example. Dibner 81; Guibert, p.14; Krivatsy 3114; Norman 621; PMM 129; Wellcome 7448144.

ref: 91887 P.O.R.

5.


DIDEROT, Denis; Jean Le Rond D’Alembert. Encyclopedie, ou Dictionnaire raisonne des sciences, des arts et des metiers... Paris [but Geneva, G. Cramer for C. J. Panckoucke] and Amsterdam, M.M. Rey, 1762-1780.

ThE “gENEvA” EDiTiON OF ONE OF ThE MOsT spLENDiD MONUMENTs OF ThE ENLighTENMENT AND ONE OF ThE grEAT LANDMArKs OF WEsTErN iNTELLECTUAL hisTOrY.

A FiNE, FrEsh ExAMpLE iN FULL CONTEMpOrArY BiNDiNg.

‘A monument in the history of European thought; the acme of the age of reason; a prime motive force in undermining the Ancien régime and in heralding the French Revolution; a permanent source for all aspects of eighteenth-century civilization’ (PMM). ‘The greatest encyclopedia of science, which had widespread effect in establishing uniformity of terminology, concept, and procedure in all fields of science and technology’ (Grolier/Horblit).

The first seven volumes of the Encyclopédie were published in Paris under a royal privilege; when this was withdrawn in 1759 printing continued clandestinely, and the last ten volumes were issued under the false imprint of Samuel Faulche, Neuchâtel.

In 1770 Panckoucke attempted to reprint the work in Paris but was opposed by the French government, and instead printed his new edition in Geneva imitating the original imprints. Panckoucke had hoped to re-use the copperplates made for the first edition, but most had to be redone. The subjects are the same, but in some cases the images are reversed. The supplemental volumes and Table Analytique were published in one edition only.

Provenance: Biblioteque d’Hauteville (bookplate).

35 volumes, folio (39.8 x 26cm). 2997 engraved plates (complete as per contents leaves), a few early annotations, contemporary speckled calf, spines gilt in compartments, gilt lettering-pieces.Comprising: Text, 17 volumes. Half-titles, engraved frontispiece in volume I, woodcut vignettes and diagrams, some full-page; Recueil de planches. 11 volumes. ‘Paris’ 1762-1772 [but Geneva: G. Cramer for C. J. Panckoucke, 1771-1776], half-titles; Supplément à l’Encyclopédie. 5 volumes, Amsterdam: M.M. Rey, 1776-1777. including Suite de Receuil de planches [Paris: Panckoucke, Stoupe, Brunet; Amsterdam: M.M. Rey, 1777], half-titles; Table analytique et raisonné, 2 volumes. Edited by Pierre Mouchon. Paris: Panckoucke; Amsterdam: Marc-Michel Rey, 1780. Half-titles. Adams G5; cf. Grolier/Horblit 25b; Lough, Essays on the Encyclopédie, London 1968; cf. PMM 200; Schwab, Rex, and Lough, Inventory of Diderot’s Encyclopdie, I (1971), VII (1984) [Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century 80, 223].

ref: 90987 £45,000

A LANDMArK iN iNTELLECTUAL AChiEvEMENT

6.


EDEN, FrEDEriCK MOrTON, sir. The state of the poor: or, an history of the labouring classes in England, from the conquest to the present period;... together with parochial reports... With a large appendix;... Printed by J. Davis, for B. & J. White; G. G. & J. Robinson; T. Payne; R. Faulder; T. Egerton; J. Debrett; and D. Bremner, London, 1797.

a remarkable work by a Follower oF adam smith.

Sir Frederick Eden (1766 – 1809), was one of the founders of the Globe Insurance Company and later its chairman, however he is best known as a social investigator.

His reputation for this rests on The State of the Poor. He explained the circumstances that led him to do the research: “The difficulties which the labouring classes experienced, from the high price of grain, and of provisions in general, as well as of cloathing [sic] and fuel, during the years 1794 and 1795, induced me, from motives both of benevolence and personal curiosity, to investigate their conditions in various parts of the kingdom.”

The book was intended to provide a factual basis for the current debate on what to do about the poor. “[The State of the Poor] was written from a perspective that reveals Eden’s general adherence to Adam Smith’s system of natural liberty in economic affairs; this led Karl Marx to claim that Eden was the only eighteenth-century disciple of Smith to produce a work of any significance...” (Donald Winch, ODNB).

Eden did some of the field-work himself, obtained information from clergymen but also sent out “a remarkably faithful and intelligent person” with a questionnaire he had designed. This was modelled on that used by Sir John Sinclair in his Statistical Account of Scotland.

First edition. Three volumes, 4to., complete with half titles to all volumes, directions to the binder (end of vol. 1) and the supplementary leaf 3L3 in volume 2, and sheets 5B*–5B†4 in volume 3 as called for in the directions to the binder, folding table, modern half calf gilt, an excellent example. Einaudi 1714; Goldsmiths’ 17107; Kress B.3384; PMM 249.

ref: 90815 £7,500

7.


EUCLiD. The elements of geometrie of the most auncient philosopher Euclide of Megara. Faithfully (now first) translated into the Englishe toung, by H. Billingsley, citizen of London. Whereunto are annexed certaine scholies, annotations, and inuentions, of the best mathematiciens, both of time past, and in this our age. With a very fruitfull præface made by M. I. Dee, specifying the chiefe mathematicall scie[n]ces, what they are, and wherunto commodious: where, also, are disclosed certaine new secrets mathematicall and mechanicall, vntill these our daies, greatly missed. By Iohn Daye, Imprinted at London, [1570].

the First english euclid, with oversliPs, and notable For John dee’s PreFace, one oF his most imPortant texts. a Fine clean coPy.

This full translation by Sir Henry Billingsley, a successful London merchant who later became Lord Mayor, relied on the achievements of two earlier editors, Campanus and Zamberti, and benefitted from the involvement of the Elizabethan mathematician and magus, John Dee. As well as his preface, Dee also contributed many annotations and additional theorems to the work.

“The most influential of all Dee’s published works was his ‘Mathematicall praeface’ to Henry Billingsley’s English translation of Euclid, Elements of Geometrie, printed by John Daye in 1570. The preface is firstly a long encomium of the study of ‘thynges mathematicall’ as partaking both of the supernatural and of the natural, and of geometry in particular. He goes on to enumerate the practical arts (proper to ‘mechanicians’) which derive from mathematics, and under one of the last of these, ‘thaumaturgike’, exculpates himself with some passion from the charge of conjuring. He also defends the use of the vernacular, as not encroaching on the rights of the universities. His concept of ‘Archemastrie’, which ‘procedeth by Experiences’, has been seen by some as foreshadowing the experimental science of the next century, but he also hints at magical interests and practices under this very heading. In general the ‘Praeface’ is now seen as a retrospective view of his own practice and teaching after his return to England in 1551, but the interest in magic, and possibly in skrying (seeing, or conversing with, spirits), may be a development of the late 1560s.” (ODNB).

Printing such a large and complex work with its folding overlays was a monumental task and the printer John Day is commemorated by his portrait at the end and possibly as the bearded figure of Mercury at the foot of the title-page. The overslips were originally printed as six bifolia bound in at the end. The number of overslips extant varies from copy to copy.

Provenance: Sir Walter Calverley Trevelyan, Bt. (bookplate to front pastedown).

First edition in English of the first complete translation. Folio (31.5 x 20.5 cm), [28], 203, 205-464, [1] leaves, title within an allegorical woodcut border, showing Time bringing Truth and Antiquity to light [McKerrow & Ferguson 99],, folding letterpress ‘Groundplat’ or table accompanying John Dee’s preface, geometrical diagrams throughout, Book XI with 23 diagrams with one or more overslips (circa 43 in total), large woodcut portrait of John Day above colophon, woodcut historiated or decorative initials and tail-pieces, lacking final blank, short repair within table, mostly within blank area, ink smudges within text to [fist]2v and [fist]3r, occasional staining, mostly marginal, but heavier to signature D, occasional spotting, modern calf antique, a fine clean example kept in a modern solander box.STC 10560; Taylor, Mathematical Practioners, 41; Thomas-Stanford 41; cf. PMM 25.

ref: 91914 £50,000

8.


FrEUD, sigMUND. Introductory lectures on psychoanalysis a course of twenty-eight lectures delivered at the University of Vienna... authorised English translation by Joan Riviere with a preface by Ernest Jones... George Allen & Unwin, London, 1922.

a rare inscribed examPle oF one oF Freud’s english editions.

Inscribed on the front free endpaper: /Herrn G.P. Farrow/ zur Erinnerung an seinen /Besuch, Mai 1924/ Freud.

Additionally with bookplate of E. Pickworth Farrow to front pastedown and an inscription beneath, ‘This book is the property of Ernest P. Farrow, “Limehurst”, Spalding, England. Anybody finding it and returning it to the above address will be rewarded and anybody finding it is asked to return, E.P. Farrow’, Included with the book is a detached typed note of provenance written by Farrow, signed and dated 30 May1951: ‘Copy of Prof. Sigmund Freud’s “Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis” autographed by Prof. Freud at his house in Bergasse, Vienna, May 1924, and handed back to Dr Ernest Pickworth Farrow of Spalding, Lincolnshire. After leaving Prof. Freud’s house, Mr A.G. Tansley F.R.S. (now Prof. Sir Arthur Tansley) - who had taken me to Prof. Freud’s house and introduced me to him - said to me, “My word, Farrow - that book will be worth thousands of pounds at some time in the future”. When I asked him why, he replied “Well, what would we give to-day to have a copy of Sir Isaac Newton’s Principia autographed by Newton himself? And I would certainly say that Freud is the Newton of the mind”‘.

Ernest Pickworth Farrow (1891-1956) was a plant ecologist who studied under Arthur Tansley (1871-1955) at Trinity College, Cambridge. It was Tansley who stimulated Farrow’s interest in psychology and psychoanalysis, and it was Tansley who later put Farrow in contact with Freud. Following a dream about business worries in 1922 Farrow underwent psychoanalysis with two analysts. Farrow is referred to in the correspondence between Sigmund Freud and Ernest Jones, Jones initially grumbling about a ‘rambling auto-biographical article’ sent by Farrow and suggesting Farrow is suffering from dementia praecox (7 November 1924). Freud replied and defended Farrow: ‘You must not take Mr Farrow for a fool. I know him through Tansley and from a personal conversation. He is an odd man, but a very able, ‘shrewd’ one, who had no luck with two analysts and has since then undertaken a self-analysis and is coming up with quite serious findings. To be sure, he is a bit of a grumbler, but both analysts [near you] really made technical mistakes with him’ (16 November 1924). Farrow was attempting to enlist Freud as a patron of self-analysis and eventually published this as ‘A Practical Method of Self-Analysis... ‘, containing a foreword by the late Sigmund Freud (1942). Freud also wrote the preface to an earlier published paper of Farrow’s concerning a memory recovered from his seventh month and published in the International Zeitschrift fur Psychoanalyse in 1926. In this preface Freud comments Farrow’s efforts to employ ‘the procedure of self-analysis which I myself employed in the past for the analysis of my own dreams. His findings deserve attention precisely on account of the peculiar character of his personality and of his technique’.

Provenance: E. Pickworth Farrow, bookplate and inscription to him by Freud.

First edition in English. 8vo., frontispiece, 395pp., 4 pages ads at end, original cloth gilt, light wear, slipcase.

ref: 91868 P.O.R.

iNsCriBED COpY

9.


[gErMAN sTOCK ExChANgE pEriODiCAL]. Privilegirte Liste der Börsen-Halle (Fortsetzung:) Liste der Börsen-Halle oder Hamburgische Abend-Zeitung. Gerhard von Hofstrup & Sohn, Hamburg, 1818-1826.

substantial run oF an imPortant Periodical giving the daily list Prices in maJor euroPean markets oF german and euroPean government stocks as well as the gold Price.

Die Börsen-Halle, as it was colloquially known, was a German evening periodical published from 1815-1874 under two titles: Privilegirte Liste der Börsen-Halle and Hamburgische Abendzeitung für Handel, Schiffart und Politik. Published in Hamburg, it originally delivered news four times a week- on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays- though by 1820 it was being published daily, excepting Sundays.

Each publication opens with an exchange rate table, including rates for all major European currencies from several European cities. It then provides shipping news, information about arriving and departing vessels, and advertisements for travelling companions. Further advertisements and announcements, including lottery wins and auctions, precede the main body of each paper, which is concerned with trade and political news.

The periodicals are valuable both for their commercial and political insight. Many issues have extensive statistical tables and records, giving an in-depth picture of European finance in the early 19th century. They also provide detailed reports of major historical events from the perspective of German interests. For example the issue from 7th February 1820 gives an extensive report on the death of King George III and speculates about the merits of his potential successors.

Provenance: Landesbibliothek Schwerin, library stamp to flyleaves and page 1; Unidentified library stamp throughout at upper right corners.

14 volumes (2 per annum), 4to; 1821 volume 2 lacking September - December, original grey marbled boards, paper label to upper spine, edges sprinkled red. Excellent unsophisticated condition.

ref: 90348 £12,500

10.


[GLEIG, George; Colin Macfarquhar, (editors)]. Encyclopædia Britannica; or, a dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature;... The third edition, in eighteen volumes, greatly improved. Illustrated with five hundred and forty-two copperplates. Printed for A.Bell and C.Macfarquhar, Edinburgh, 1797-1801.

“the most Famous oF all encycloPaedias in the english language” (Pmm).

Probably compiled by the editor and antiquarian William Smellie (1740-1795), the engraver Andrew Bell (1726-1809), and the printer Colin Macfarquhar (died 1793). Indebted to John Harris’s Lexicon Technicum, 1704 and Ephraim Chambers’s Cyclopedia, 1728, but diverging from their alphabetical models by arranging entries under subject matter : “Whoever has had occasion to consult Chambers, Owen, &c. or even the voluminous French Encyclopedie, will have discovered the folly of attempting to communicate science under the various technical terms arranged in an alphabetical order. Such an attempt is repugnant to the very idea of science, which is a connected series of conclusions deduced from self-evident or previously discovered principles.”

The third edition offered here marks the appearance of the encyclopaedia in the way we know it today.

Third edition. 18 volumes, 4to (21.5 x 27cm), handsomely bound in contemporary tree calf gilt, spines in six compartments, black morocco labels, light wear to extremities, some joints repaired, a few with short splits, corners worn, 542 engraved plates throughout (complete), a very good sound set.

ref: 83341 £3,500

11.


GODWIN, William. Of Population. An Enquiry concerning the Power of Increase in the Numbers of Mankind, being an Answer to Mr. Malthus’s Essay on that Subject. Longman, London, 1820.

an imPortant text, the result oF godwin’s debate with thomas malthus.

In 1798, Thomas Robert Malthus wrote An Essay on the Principle of Population in response to Godwin’s views on the “perfectibility of society.” Malthus wrote that populations are inclined to increase in times of plenty, and that only distress, from causes such as food shortages, disease, or war, serves to stem population growth. Populations in his view are therefore always doomed to grow until distress is felt, at least by the poorer segment of the society. Consequently, poverty was felt to be an inevitable phenomenon of society.

In Political Justice Godwin had acknowledged that an increase in the standard of living as he envisioned could cause population pressures, but he saw an obvious solution to avoiding distress: “project a change in the structure of human action, if not of human nature, specifically the eclipsing of the desire for sex by the development of intellectual pleasures”. In the 1798 version of his essay, Malthus specifically rejected this possible change in human nature. In the second and subsequent editions, however, he wrote that widespread moral restraint, i.e., postponement of marriage and pre-nuptial celibacy (sexual abstinence), could reduce the tendency of a population to grow until distress was felt.” Godwin also saw new technology as being partly responsible for the future change in human nature into more intellectually developed beings. He reasoned that increasing technological advances would lead to a decrease in the amount of time individuals spent on production and labour, and thereby, to more time spent on developing “their intellectual and moral faculties”. Instead of population growing exponentially, Godwin believed that this moral improvement would outrun the growth of population. Godwin pictured a social utopia where society would reach a level of sustainability and engage in “voluntary communism”.

First edition. 8vo, xvi, 17-22, 626 pp., original boards with paper lettering piece, neat repairs to spine and joints, uncut and almost entirely unopened; old stains to blank upper margins pp xx-xi, a very attractive copy in a recent clam-shell cloth box. Bookplates of Jonathan Hargreaves and John Yudkin.

ref: 84663 £3,500

12.


HOUSE OF COMMONS SELECT COMMITTEE. Report, together with minutes of Evidence, and Accounts, from the Select Committee on the High Price of Gold Bullion [WITH approximately 50 other reports on the subject, all with drop head titles]. House of Commons, London, 8th June, 1810 - 5th July, 1811.

a remarkable set oF the original house oF commons select committee rePorts on the Price oF gold bullion.

“In February 1810, the House of Commons set up a Select Committee on the High Price of Gold Bullion to investigate why it had risen during the Napoleonic Wars. Since the Bank of England ceased to redeem its bank notes in gold in 1797, as its reserves were eroded by the war, the price was up 20% – extraordinary because it had been fixed at £4.25 per ounce in 1717 by Sir Isaac Newton, Master of the Mint, and this ‘gold standard’ had been stable for decades ever since. Now it was £4.65. What had caused the escalation? “The debate,” J. K. Galbraith declared, “was the most famous in all history on money and its management.” It also put the spotlight on the London Gold Market. Not just the Governor of the Bank of England and the Clerk of its Bullion Office gave evidence, but also brokers, refiners, fabricators, merchants and exchange dealers. Every word of their testimony is in the Minutes of Evidence, which provide an account of the market from price-fixing, the role of the Bank’s Bullion Office as the crossroads, to refiners and their sources ofgold. Such a hands-on account has never been repeated.” (Timothy Green, Alchemist magazine).

The twenty-nine witnesses included, from the London bullion market, Aaron Goldsmid from the brokers Mocatta, Nathan Mayer Rothschild (appearing incognito), and John Humble of the Bank of England’s Bullion Office. The evidence provided a unique insight into the gold trade in London. The key factor, however, was that the Bank of England, without the obligation of paying gold against notes, had printed them too freely. The Bullion Committee concluded there was “an excess in the paper circulation … (due to) … insufficient check and control in the issue of paper from the Bank of England; and originally to the suspension of cash payments, which removed the natural and true control”. The Committee urged cash payments in gold be resumed within two years. In fact, full resumption did not occur until 1821.

Sir Robert Peel was the chairman of the Bullion committee. A notable member was David Ricardo.

Folio. First report 232 pp., (others 250pp approx, some folding), contemporary half calf, marbled boards, red morocco label, joints cracked but firm.

ref: 90256 £7,500

BULLiON rEpOrTs 1810.

13.


HUME, David. A Treatise of Human Nature, being an attempt to introduce the experimental Method of Reasoning into Moral Subjects. John Noon [ - Thomas Longman], London, 1739-1740.

First edition oF hume’s First book.

David Hume (1711–1776), Scottish historian, philosopher, and economist, is best known today for his radical philosophical empiricism and scepticism.

“A Treatise of Human Nature was the product of an extraordinary intellectual ambition. The scale of that ambition was explicit in the introduction to book 1. There Hume outlined his conviction that a science of man, the knowledge of human nature, should be the basis for all the others: for mathematics, natural philosophy, and natural religion, as well as for logic, morals, criticism, and politics. Further, he would argue that ‘as the science of man is the only solid foundation for the other sciences, so the only solid foundation we can give to this science itself must be laid on experience and observation’ (Treatise, 4). The consequences of this simple proposition were to be even more radical when applied to moral subjects than they had been when applied to natural ones, a century earlier. The multiplication of philosophical systems, which had brought metaphysical reasoning into disrepute, would be at an end. For a philosophy based on experience cannot discover ‘the ultimate original qualities of human nature’ (ibid., 5), any more, it was implied, than it can reason about entities, such as God, his qualities, and his operations, of which experience gives us no firm knowledge.” (ODNB).

In light of Hume’s central role in the Scottish Enlightenment, and in the history of Western philosophy, he has been “widely regarded as the greatest [philosopher] who has ever written in the English language.” (Bryan Magee). Hume has proved extremely influential on subsequent western philosophy, especially on utilitarianism, logical positivism, William James, the philosophy of science, early analytic philosophy, cognitive philosophy, theology and other movements and thinkers. In addition, according to philosopher Jerry Fodor, Hume’s Treatise is “the founding document of cognitive science”. Hume engaged with contemporary intellectual luminaries such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, James Boswell, and Adam Smith (who acknowledged Hume’s influence on his economics and political philosophy). Immanuel Kant credited Hume with awakening him from “dogmatic slumbers”.

Provenance: James Durham of Largo, nineteenth century armorial bookplate.

First edition. 3 volumes, 8vo., advertisement leaf at end of volume 1, woodcut headpieces, ornaments and initials, without the 4 leaves of advertisements recorded by Jessop (but not in Rothschild copy), collector’s stamp touching signature on E2 and very thin worm trail in lower margin of final few leaves; volume 2 with very light stain affecting side-note on 5 pages; volume 3 F6 a cancel, thin worm trail in lower margin just touching signature on D2-3, but generally very clean internally, uniform contemporary calf, gilt tooled spines with raised bands, gilt morocco lettering labels, a little rubbed, extremities chipped, modern solander case, an excellent example. PMM 194; Rothschild 1171.

ref: 91942 £160,000

14.


JOhNsON, sAMUEL. A dictionary of the English language: in which the words are deduced from their originals, and illustrated in their different significations by examples from the best writers. To which are prefixed, a history of the language, and an English grammar. Printed for W. Strahan, for J. and P. Knapton; T. and T. Longman; C. Hitch and L. Hawes; A. Millar ; and R. and J. Dodsley, London, 1755.

a Fine examPle oF the First edition oF the most Famous english dictionary, praised by Adam Smith: ‘The work of a single person and composed in a period of time very inconsiderable when compared with the extent of the work’.

In the 1740s “a group of booksellers headed by Robert Dodsley perceived the need for a new English dictionary to replace the Dictionarium Britannicum of Nathan Bailey (1730). They found a receptive ear in Johnson, who had pondered for many years on the absence of an English equivalent to the great continental glossaries sponsored by public bodies and academies.

For this task, the Johnsons took a substantial house in Gough Square, the garret was fitted out as workroom for the staff, which amounted to five or six assistants, most of them Scots. Johnson used an interleaved copy of Bailey’s dictionary in its 1736 edition; he also consulted a wide range of technical and specialist manuals to expand the range of vocabulary. He sought out illustrative quotations in a huge collection of books, from which his amanuenses transcribed marked extracts. Before the mammoth work was completed, a number of distractions held up its progress. Johnson quarrelled with his intended patron, the earl of Chesterfield, to whom he had dedicated a recast version of the prospectus as The Plan of the English Dictionary (1747). Ultimately the work appeared in two folio volumes on 15 April 1755, garnished with preliminary matter including a preface of extraordinary dignity and eloquence.

The Dictionary left an immense mark on its age. It soon became recognized as a work of classical standing, and in spite of some minor blemishes it has never lost its historical importance as the first great endeavour of its kind. Notable above all for definitions of pith and occasional wit, the dictionary was even more original in the way in which every word, as Johnson put it, had its history. Each entry is organized under the headword to exemplify graduated senses of a term, a procedure which redirected the course of English lexicography. Further, the quotations used to exemplify the usage of a given word combined to form an anthology of moral sayings and helped to define the canon of literature: they show Johnson’s taste and piety, for he would not admit extracts from irreligious writers such as Hobbes, Bolingbroke, and Hume. Notoriously, a handful of entries display some of the author’s prejudices, as when he glossed ‘whig’ as ‘the name of a faction’, or when he defined a ‘patron’ as ‘commonly a wretch who supports with insolence, and is paid with flattery’. Conscious that his primary role was to record the state of English vocabulary, rather than to legislate for its usage, Johnson registered the entire sweep of words from the crude and demotic to the most rarefied scientific terms and to recent fanciful forms imported from other languages.” (ODNB).

Two volumes, folio, title pages printed in red and black, woodcut tailpieces, contemporary calf gilt, neat tiny restoration to joints, small repair to inner blank margin of first title, a fine example. Fleeman 55.4D/1a; PMM 201; Rothschild 1240.

ref: 90723 £19,500

FAvOUrABLY rEviEWED BY ADAM sMiTh

15.


KANT, iMMANUEL. Critik der reinen Vernunft. Johann Friedrich Hartknoch, Riga, 1781.

First edition oF kant’ most highly regarded work.

Critik der reinen Vernunft is one of the most influential works in the history of philosophy. In the preface to this first edition Kant explains what he means by a critique of pure reason: “I do not mean by this a critique of books and systems, but of the faculty of reason in general, in respect of all knowledge after which it may strive independently of all experience.”

Before Kant, it was generally held that truths of reason must be analytic, meaning that what is stated in the predicate must already be present in the subject (for example, “An intelligent man is intelligent” or “An intelligent man is a man”). In either case, the judgment is analytic because it is ascertained by analyzing the subject. It was thought that all truths of reason, or necessary truths, are of this kind: that in all of them there is a predicate that is only part of the subject of which it is asserted. If this were so, attempting to deny anything that could be known a priori (for example, “An intelligent man is not intelligent” or “An intelligent man is not a man”) would involve a contradiction. It was therefore thought that the law of contradiction is sufficient to establish all a priori knowledge.

‘The influence of Kant is paramount in the critical method of modern philosophy. No other thinker has been able to hold with such firmness the balance between speculative and empirical ideas. His penetrating analysis of the elements involved in synthesis, and the subjective process by which these elements are realized in the individual consciousness, demonstrated the operation of “pure reason”; and the simplicity and cogency of his arguments achieved immediate fame. Kant’s achievements in other branches of philosophy were equally distinguished and fruitful... His methods... dominated western philosophical thought throughout the 19th century, as they do today’ (PMM).

Provenance: Schlessinger (bookseller’s small ticket).

Octavo (20.5 x 12.3 cm). Engraved title vignette and a few small engraved vignettes in text; some light marginal spotting, occasional light marginal browning or staining. Contemporary marbled paper-covered boards, flat spine with orange label lettered in gilt, edges red; extremities rubbed, sides scuffed; modern cloth box, orange label. Norman 1197; PMM 226; Warda, Die Druckschriften Kants, 59.

ref: 90709 £22,500

16.


KEYNEs, JOhN MAYNArD. The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. Macmillan, London, 1936.

A FiNE ExAMpLE OF ThE FirsT EDiTiON OF KEYNEs’ MAsTErWOrK, sCArCE iN DUsT-JACKET. Written in the aftermath of the great depression, the General Theory is regarded as one of the most influential social science treatise of the century; it quickly and permanently changed the way the world looked at the economy and the role of government in society. This is the book “on which [Keynes’] fame as the outstanding economist of his generation must rest” (DNB).

After the 1929 crash, Keynes analysed the classical school of economists, “and found them seriously inadequate and inaccurate. [...] A national budget, over and above its function of providing a national income, should be used as a major instrument in planning the national economy. The regulation of the trade-cycle [...] must be the responsibility of governments. Lost equilibrium in a national economy could and should be restored by official action and not abandoned to laisser faire.

[The General Theory] threw the economists of the world into two violently opposed camps. Yet eight years later Keynes was to dominate the international conference at Bretton Woods, out of which came the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank; and his influence during the ensuing decades, even on his theoretical opponents, has been such that a highly placed American official recently remarked that ‘we are all Keynesians today’” (PMM).

About speculation especially, Keynes dismisses conventional wisdom, and the fundamentalist’s dream, that the fund manager should base his investment decisions solely on the probably long-term yield of any investment: “He who attempts it must surely lead much more laborious days, and run greater risks than he who tries to guess better than the crowd, how the crowd will behave; and given equal intelligence, he may make more disastrous mistakes.” Keynes was speaking from experience. During the Twenties and Thirties, he looked after several institutional funds -- highly leveraged, and highly speculative -- dealing in commodities, currencies, and equities. Like Livermore he was no stranger to loss, and during the 1929 crash his funds lost seventy-five per cent of their value. He managed to recoup, and, amazingly, six years later increased his fortune twenty-three times with a series of judicious investments. As Barton Biggs recently wrote: “there are many brilliant and bizarre characters in today’s hedge fund world, but Keynes surpasses them all. Hedgehogs would have liked and appreciated him.”

Octavo., xii, 403pp., original blue cloth gilt, dust-wrapper, small tape stain to front free endpaper, spine of dust-wrapper darkened, light wear. PMM 423.

ref: 90828 £6,750

‘WE ArE ALL KEYNEsiANs TODAY’

17.


MACKAY, ChArLEs. Memoirs of extraordinary popular delusions and the madness of crowds. Bentley, London, 1841.

a classic account oF PoPular Follies and the madness oF crowds, and an imPortant early work oF social Psychology.

In the preface it is stated “The object of the Author in the following pages has been to collect the most remarkable instances of those moral epidemics which have been excited, sometimes by one cause and sometimes by another, and to show how easily the masses have been led astray, and how imitative and gregarious men are, even in their infatuations and crimes”. The chapters on the financial fads, are still considered crucially important even today. The Financial Times rated it second among the top ten greatest books on investment ever published. Since its first publication in 1841 it has seldom been out of print. Bernard Baruch wrote a new forward in the 1932 edition, stating that it had saved him in 1929, getting him out shortly before the market crashed. Mackay could never have foreseen how his examination of mass hysteria in the various bubbles -- tulipomania, John Law, and the South Sea -- would take on a life of its own, and commence a new field of study, the behaviour of the crowd, which would later on be revisited by Le Bon, Freud, Trotter, and Canetti. In other chapters Mackay vividly describes crusades, fortune telling, slow poisoners, witch hunts and a variety of religious cults.

The author Charles Mackay (1814-1889) worked as a journalist for many years in London and North America contributing to the Telegraph and the Times. His journalistic skill can be seen in his lively portraits of imposters, thieves, quacks, pseudo-scientists, gamblers and fraudsters.

First edition. 3 volumes, 8vo., viii, 400; [vi], 406; [vi], 404pp., 3 engraved frontispieces, contemporary half calf gilt, red and sable morocco labels, marbled sides, lightly rubbed. Charles Ellis’ Classics II. (Investors Anthology)

ref: 90196 £12,500

AN iNvEsTMENT CLAssiC

18.


MALTHUS, Thomas Robert. An essay on the principle of population, as it affects the future improvement of society. With remarks on the speculations of Mr. Godwin, M. Condorcet, and other writers. J. Johnson, London, 1798.

ThE sCArCE FirsT EDiTiON OF ONE OF ThE MOsT iMpOrTANT AND iNFLUENTiAL WOrKs iN ThE hisTOrY OF ECONOMiC ThEOrY. A FiNE, FrEsh ExAMpLE. COpiEs rArELY AppEAr ON ThE OpEN MArKET.

this First edition has always been sought aFter on account oF the Fact that many oF its most controversial views were moderated in subsequent editions. indeed the author, in his PreFace to the second edition calls it a “new work”.

this coPy with interesting Provenance: Charles Rawlins (1812-1884) was a cobalt glass manufacturer with a keen interest in economics. He corresponded with Richard Cobden and John Bright, prominent members of the Anti-Corn Law League, when active in the Liverpool Anti-Monopoly Association, and was a leading member of the Liverpool Free Trade Association.

The main tenets of Malthus’ argument were radically opposed to current thinking at the time. He argued that increases in population would eventually diminish the ability of the world to feed itself and based this conclusion on the thesis that populations expand in such a way as to overtake the development of sufficient land for crops. Consequently, population is kept in balance with the food supply by various ‘checks’. These checks were classified as either ‘vice’ or ‘misery’, and included wars, famines, plagues, delayed marriages (later called ‘prudential restraint’), prostitution (‘vicious customs with respect to women’), and contraception (‘unnatural’ practices; Essay on the Principle of Population, 1798, 100, 154). He also classified the checks as either ‘positive’ (those that increase the death rate) or ‘preventive’ (those that reduce the birth rate).

In the concluding two chapters of the first edition of the Essay Malthus argues that the pressure of population on the food supply was providentially ordained by God as a stimulus to human development (‘the growth of mind’) and was consistent with the notion of divine benevolence. These two chapters, which also contained some radical opinions on other theological questions, were omitted from the second and later editions of the Essay.

Associated with Darwin, whose theory of natural selection was influenced by Malthus’ analysis of population growth, Malthus was often misinterpreted, but his views became popular again in the twentieth century with the advent of Keynesian economics. He was seen as a monster by many and he was attacked by both wings of the political spectrum, but his influence on social policy was considerable and he was a leading spirit behind the Poor Laws Amendment Act of 1834.

Provenance: Charles Edward Rawlins (armorial bookplate to upper pastedown).

First edition. 8vo., [2],v,[1],ix,[1],396 pp.; very occasional light spotting, some unobstrusive marginal pencil annotations. Contemporary russia, gilt line to covers,expertly rebacked, modern slipcase with leather entry, a fine copy. PMM 251; Garrison-Morton 1693; Kress B.3693; Norman 1431.

ref: 91866 £135,000

19.


MALTHUS, Thomas. An essay on the principle of population; or, a view of its past and present effects on human happiness; with an inquiry into our prospects respecting the future removal or mitigation of theevils which it occasions. A new edition, very much enlarged. T. Bensley for J. Johnson, London, 1803.

this edition is substantially a new book in which malthus deFended his views against a host oF critics.

“The central idea of the essay -- and the hub of Malthusian theory -- was a simple one. The population of a community, Malthus, suggested, increases geometrically, while food supplies increased only arithmetically. If the natural increase in population occurs, the food supply becomes insufficient and the size of the population is checked by ‘misery’ -- that is, the poorest sections of the community suffer disease and famine. The Essay was highly influential in the progress of thought in early nineteenth-century Europe” (PMM).

In this enlarged edition, Malthus made clear what was only implicit in the first, that prudential restraint should, if humanly possible, be ‘moral restraint’—that is, delayed marriage accompanied by strictly moral pre-marital behaviour, although he admitted that moral restraint would not be easy and that there would be occasional failures. Whereas in the first edition he had said that all the checks to population would involve either misery or vice, in the second edition he attempted to lighten this ‘melancholy hue’ (Essay on the Principle of Population, 1st edition, 1798, iv) and ‘to soften some of the harshest conclusions of the first essay’ (2nd edition, 1803, vii) by arguing that moral restraint, if supported by an education emphasizing the immorality of bringing children into the world without the means of supporting them, would tend to increase rather than diminish individual happiness. (From ODNB).

“His work was an important influence on both Darwin and Wallace in their formulation of the concept of natural selection. It also had a profound influence on the decrease in size of families down to the present time” (Garrison-Morton).

Provenance: Board of Agriculture 1804, (lettered in gilt on upper cover).

Second edition. 4to., viii, [4], 610 pp., contemporary calf gilt, covers with gilt borders, rebacked, red morocco label, an excellent copy. Cf. PMM 251; Garrison-Morton 1693.

ref: 90818 £4,500

20.


MOORE, Charles. A full enquiry into the subject of suicide. To which are added (as being closely connected with the subject) two treatises on duelling and gaming.

Rivington, London, 1790.

In the present work Moore shows little sympathy for suicides, condemning the act as an affront to nature, God, society, and the individual’s own interests since it might deprive him of heaven. However he shows even less sympathy for philosophers who display some compassion forsuicides, famously denouncing David Hume, who had also written on the subject, as a “more pernicious and destructive member of society than even the profligate and abandoned liver” (volume 2: 54). He finishes the book with a list of twelve things that might help a person resist the temptation to take their own life, including a reminder that “temperance and employment are the great bulwarks of health, contentment, and happiness.”

Notwithstanding his views, Moore’s work is of historical value as it was: “Up to his (i.e. Moore) time the most extensive treatise on the natural, social, moral and religious aspects of suicide, the risk of which the psychiatrist must continually bear in mind. From it is taken his historical survey showing the roots of modern legal attitudes and why Coroners still prefer the verdict of “accidental death” even to “suicide while of unsound mind””.( Hunter and MacAlpine, Three Hundred Years of Psychiatry, 1535-186).

Two volumes, 4to., [xxvi], 388, [iv]; [xvi], 405, [xxiii] pp., modern calf backed marbled boards gilt, vellum tips, occasional slight foxing, overall an excellent copy.

ref: 88703 £1,500

21.


SINCLAIR, Sir John. The Statistical Account of Scotland drawn up from the communications of the ministers of the different parishes. Creech, Edinburgh, 1791-1799.

Pioneering work on statistics.

“In 1790, as an elder in the general assembly of the Church of Scotland,Sir John Sinclair (1754-1835) launched the idea of a survey of the state of the country, which was to become the twenty-one volumes of the Statistical Account of Scotland. It is a detailed account of the geography, history, economy, and society of every parish. He had gathered the word ‘statistical’ from Germany on his northern tour. He used it to mean information which was desirable for legislative purposes, though not necessarily numerical in form. ‘Statistics’, he said, ‘should reveal the quantum of happiness in a population’, as well as ‘the means of further improvement’. He saw the proper function of government as intervention or legislative action to promote welfare and economic growth, and recognized that detailed information was necessary for such intervention to be effective. He was not the first to move towards the collecting of detailed local information. In particular, for Scotland Sir Robert Sibbald had made various county reports; Sir James Steuart had recommended such action. Alexander Webster’s Scottish census of 1755 was an

22. interpretation of the same idea, as were Macfarlane’s Geographical Collections of the early eighteenth century. There were the various parish studies made by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and published in 1782. The survey idea was taken further in the census of 1801. The important features of Sinclair’s survey were its comprehensive range of topics and the fact that it was fully carried through. All 936 parishes were reported on in the following nine years, and the book as a whole is the most frequently quoted of all Scottish historical sources.” (ODNB).

The work was highly innovative and influenced Sir Frederick Eden when he was writing The State of the Poor.

Provenance: P. Small Keir (later signature on titles and bookplate).

First edition. 21 volumes, 8vo, 7 engraved plates, 4 folding, engraved map, 4 folding tables, half-titles. (2 folding plates very browned, a little foxing.) Contemporary sprinkled calf, red labels on spine, neat repairs to joints and extremities as required, a very good set. Goldsmiths’ 14611; Kress B.2206.

ref: 89600 £3,500


SPINOZA, Baruch. Tractatus theologico-politicus continens dissertationes aliquot. Henricus Künraht, Hamburg, 1670 [but 1672].

Second (and First realistically obtainable) edition oF this ‘crystal-clear exPosition oF the theory oF natural right’ (Pmm).

The Tractatus theologico-politicus (A Treatise on Political Theology) was Spinoza’s first great work, blending the traditions of his Jewish background with Cartesian rationalism, the philosophy he adopted following his break with Jewish orthodoxy in 1656. The Tractatus constitutes an extension to political thought of Spinoza’s ethical views: man is moved to the knowledge and love of God; the love of God involves the love of our fellow men; man in order to obtain security, surrenders part of his right of independent action to the state; but the state exists to give liberty, not to enslave; justice, wisdom and toleration are essential to the sovereign power. The work also contains the first clear statement of the independence of each other of philosophy and religion.

Spinoza’s views were highly controversial. For that reason the Tractatus, surreptitious printing of which began already at 1663, was only published in 1670, and even then – anonymously and with a bogus imprint (The Tractatus was published anonymously by Jan Rieuwertsz in Amsterdam. The title page identified the city of publication as Hamburg and the publisher as Henricus Kunraht). It was written in New Latin rather than the vernacular Dutch in an attempt to avoid censorship by the Dutch authorities.

Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) was born to a family of ‘Anusim’ (Jews who were forced to abandon their religion and convert to another – in his case - Catholicism). Spinoza’s family fled Spain via Portugal and settled in Amsterdam, where they regained practising Judaism.

Despite having a Jewish upbringing, at the age of 24 Spinoza was outcast and boycotted by the Jewish community for his controversial Rationalistic views and public disregard of Jewish religious rules. Following the excommunication imposed on him by the community in 1656 Spinoza adopted the Latin form of his name – Benedict, and henceforth led a wandering life.

Quarto (20.4 x 14.8 cm). Woodcut device on title. (Clean tear to final blank, occasional light browning and light marginal waterstaining, a few light creases.) The title-page is identical to that of the second edition (T.2), but the date MDCLXX was reset on the last line. This title-page was categorized by Land and Gebhardt as T.2a (Bamberger). As in other copies of the second edition p. 42 reads 24, p. 207 reads 213, Cap. XIV on p. 161 reads Cap. XVI. Contemporary calf, gilt turn-ins (some small chips, joints splitting, corners bumped, four tiny wormholes). Bamberger, The Early Editions of Spinoza’s Tractatus theologico-Politicus, in ‘Studies in Bibliography and Booklore’, vol. 5, 1962, pp. 9-33; Brunet, V, 492 ; Caillet, 10314; PMM 153.

ref: 90710 £9,000

23.


sTrAND, pAUL. Wall Street New York 1916.

an iconic image oF wall street and a turning Point in modern PhotograPhy.

Wall Street depicts a scene of everyday life in Manhattan’s Financial District. Workers are seen walking past the J.P. Morgan building in New York City on the famous Wall Street, of which the photograph takes its name. The photograph is famous for its reliance on the sharpness and contrast of the shapes and angles, created by the building and the workers that lead to its abstraction. This photograph is considered to be one of Strand’s most famous works and an example of his change from pictorialism to straight photography. Strand moved from the posed to portraying the purity of the subjects. There is no focal point, with the lines converging off of the frame of the image. The financial building take majority of the frame. Emphasis is placed on the strong shapes created by the architecture of the building. The workers are included in the image, but are faceless and are trumped in size by the massive square shapes from the building they walk past. Also, the workers are captured in motion which on film makes them appear blurry. This aesthetic that Strand creates in Wall Street is his break toward the modern.

Social change was important to Strand. With Wall Street, he sought to portray a social message. He captured the faceless people next to the looming financial building in order to give a warning. Strand shows “the recently built J.P. Morgan Co. building, whose huge, dark recesses dwarf the passers-by with the imposing powers of uniformity and anonymity.”(Ollman, “Art Review: Paul Strand: A Transition, Caught on Film.) The people cannot escape the overwhelming power that this modern establishment will have on their future and the future of America. He warns us to not be the small people that look almost ant-like next to this building that has a massive amount of control over the American economy.

Photogravure on japan paper from Camera Work n° 48, image 13.4 x 16.6 cm, sheet 28.1 x 20 cm, printed1916. Annotated on reverse, mounted and framed.

ref: 91270 £20,000

iCON OF MODErNisM

24.


WYCKOFF ASSOCIATES. The Richard D. Wyckoff Method of Trading and Investing in Stocks. A course of instruction in Stock Market science and Technique Wyckoff Associates, inc., New York 1937.

rare and imPortant manual For trading.

Richard Wyckoff is one of the legends of Wall Street. At the turn of the twentieth century, he was tireless in promoting, publishing, and writing about stocks, and the stock market. His book, Studies in Tape Reading provides one of the earliest works on technical analysis. He published The Ticker magazine, which subsequently became The Magazine Of Wall Street, and he promoted many other authors, like Selden, Babson, Crowell, etc through Ticker publishing. His autobiography,Wall Street Ventures and Adventures Through Forty Years reminisces about ‘The Street’ and the great traders: Livermore, Keene, Bet-A-Million Gates, and bankers like JP Morgan.

During the 1930s, and 40s, many technicians produced stock market courses. Wyckoff ’s along with Rhea’s, Gann’s, Quinn’s and Orline Foster’s are probably the best known. They were usually roneo’d, (an early form of reproduction), and were produced in very limited numbers. They were offered to a select group of clients, who would pay hundreds of dollars for what was considered a unique glimpse into the technical mysteries of the market written by a living master. In this case, the 2- volume course, beautifully bound in tan morocco, was not offered for sale, but had to be leased by a prospective purchaser. There were several editions, due to the necessity of updating every few years. This was the most complete as it was the last and final version, published in 1937, three years after Wyckoff ’s death. His company had been bought out by Robert E Stanlaws, who continued to offer original Wyckoff material. Few editions of this course, or any others have survived. Rare.

Provenance: Willard W. Grant (upper cover). Philip Oshita, 1263 W. Winnemac Chicago, Ill. (ex libris).

Subscriber’s edition. 2 volumes. 4to (28 x 25 cm) 300 pp of type-written yellow paper, divided in numerous sections, instructions for use inserted loose in pockets of both volumes, ring bound in contemporary soft dark brown calf, gilt metal clasps, subscriber’s name gilt stamped on upper cover, an excellent example.

ref: 88247 £12,500

sUBsCriBErs EDiTiON

25.

TERMS AND CONDITIONSThe conditions of all books has been described; all items in this catalogueare guaranteed to be complete unless otherwise stated.

All prices are nett and do not include postage and packing.

Invoices will be rendered in £ sterling. The title of goods doesnot pass to the purchaser until the invoice is paid in full.

VAT Number G.B. 105 103 675

Front cover image - item 24 - STRAND, Paul. Wall Street.Back cover image - item 3 - bourke-white, margaret. A pair of photographs of the American Stock Exchange.

NB: The illustrations are not equally scaled. Exact dimensions will be provided on request.

Compiled by Julian MacKenzieDesign and Photography by Ivone Chao (ivonechao.com)

Printed by LatimerTrend (latimertrend.co.uk)

Shapero Rare Books

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