Books

Second edition in English overall, the first to acknowledge Hume as the author. These controversial essays assert that individuals have a moral right to commit suicide, and that life after death is highly improbable. This edition is scarce in commerce: we trace one previous auction listing in the past 60 years. Hume (1711-1776) originally included these essays in the proposed Five Dissertations volume in 1755. Hostile reactions from readers of prepublication copies led Hume and his publisher to replace the two essays with "On the Standards of Taste," and to release the book as Four Dissertations in January 1757. Despite this, several sets of the original sheets were smuggled out: pirated copies were published anonymously in French in 1770 and in an anonymous, corrupted English edition of 1777. This edition, which reprints the 1777 text, was the first to package the essays with extracts from Rousseau's Julie: Or, The New Heloise (1781). The book was issued with a final unpaginated leaf, with a page of "Arguments against Suicide" made by the publisher: that leaf is not present in this copy. Octavo in fours (165 x 97 mm). Contemporary half calf, spine ruled in gilt between raised bands, later brown morocco label, sprinkled paper sides, edges sprinkled red. Minor bumping and rubbing, cosmetic split to front inner hinge, faint browning and foxing to endpapers, title page with skillful restoration to blank verso where the stamp has been erased, contents generally fresh: a very good copy. Fieser 22A.3; Jessop, p. 35.