Books

First edition of the final book by the great political philosopher. The Enquiry develops the arguments of the Fable of the Bees (1729), Mandeville's most famous work. The work is structured as a dialogue between two interlocutors, Horatio and Cleomenes, whom Mandeville acknowledges elsewhere as his alter ego. Within a few weeks of the Enquiry's publication, George Berkeley had published his famed attack on Mandeville in the Alciphron. Bernard Mandeville (1670-1733) grew up and studied in the Netherlands, before settling in England after the Glorious Revolution. In the Enquiry, he outlines a sociological analysis of contemporary systems of honour and religion, arguing that each functions as a device for socializing humans. For Richard Cook, the Enquiry allowed Mandeville to expand and embellish his arguments "with a show of urbane detachment in sharp contrast to the clamorous abuse favored by most of his critics" (p. 143). ESTC T59021; Kaye pp. 440ff. Richard Cook, Bernard Mandeville, 1974. Octavo (195 x 121 mm). Contemporary panelled calf, recently rebacked to style, spine ruled in gilt and with raised bands and red morocco label, edges sprinkled red. Woodcut vignette to title page, head- and tailpieces. Eighteenth-century engraved bookplate of Sir John Powell (1753-1822) to front pastedown. Light rubbing, a couple of spots of browning and foxing, otherwise internally fresh: a very good copy.