Books

London: printed for John Noon,, 1739. One of the most important works in the history of Western philosophy, summarising "a century of speculation on knowledge and of theological discussion" (PMM) First edition of the first published part of Hume's first great work, composed before he was twenty-five years old, during his three years in France. "The book comes up for sale so seldom that one may doubt whether more than one or two hundred can be extant" (Keynes & Sraffa, p. iv). Hume returned to London with the finished manuscript by mid-September 1737, but did not sign articles of agreement with the publisher, John Noon, for another twelve months. The two volumes finally appeared, anonymously, at the end of January 1739, with the publisher's agreement stating a print run "not exceeding one thousand copies thereof" - though, as Keynes and Sraffa pointed out, far fewer have survived. Already fearing that they would not be well received, Hume had meanwhile begun a third volume, Of…