Books

First edition, second issue, of Kant's text of practical pacifism. This text is unique among his works in that it was aimed at a broad, non-specialist public. Against the background of the French Revolutionary Wars, Kant argues that world peace can be attained with much the same measures as peace between individuals. He further proposes a global federation of states, reorganised as democratic republics - an idea which evidently contains "an outline of a world league of nations" (PMM). Kant's belief that democratic states are inherently less willing to engage in armed conflict influenced the doctrine of democratic peace theory and so the foreign policy of many 20th-century liberal states. Zum ewigen Frieden was an immediate success, quickly prompting a series of translations and counterfeit editions. The first issue, with the uppercase "Welt" catchword on page 3, sold out within a few weeks; the second has a lowercase "welt". Octavo (174 x 103 mm). Contemporary blue paper-covered boards, spine with tooled decoration in gilt and orange morocco label, edges sprinkled red. Ink signature of C. H. Q. Lievens, dated 1868, to front pastedown. Joints and extremities neatly restored. Light bumping and sunning, faint toning to spine, foxing and marking to contents, text crisp: a very good copy. Adickes 84; Printing and the Mind of Man 226 (ref.); Warda 155.

Zum ewigen Frieden (To Eternal Peace) is a 1795 essay by Immanuel Kant in which he proposes the demand for a peaceful world order. The essay lays the normative foundations for a world of enduring peace, free of the conflicts and wars that had long plagued Europe.