‎"PUFENDORF, SAMUEL.‎
‎Einleitung zu der Historie der vornehmsten Reiche und Staaten so itziger Zeit in Europa sich befinden (+) Continuirte Einleitung zu der Historie der vornehmsten Reiche und Staaten von Europa.‎

‎Franckfurt, Knochen, 1705. 8vo. Uniformly bound in two contemporary full calf bindings with four raised bands and gilt lettering to spine. Small paper-label pasted on to top of spines. Wear to extremities. Leather cracked, boards with scratches and head of spine on vol. 1 chipped. Internally with occassional light foxing, but generally internally nice and clean. Title-page in vol. 1 detached. (16), 870, (32) pp. + frontispiece. (16), 916, (13) pp. ‎

Reference : 61494

‎Later edition of this influential work by Pufendorf, first published in 1683 during his period in Sweden. Here Pufendorf examine the various nations and their individual motivations. He saw states as having distinct personalities each driven by an interest that shaped how they were governed and how they behaved. ""In 1682, Samuel Pufendorf published his treatise Einleitung zu der Historie der Vornehmsten Reiche und Staaten so itziger Zeit in Europa sich befinden (…). This book included a short reference to the early beginnings of mankind, which combined biblical and Aristotelian perspectives: 'To the time of the deluge', Pufendorf suggested, there was no magistracy, but 'the Government was lodged only in each Father of his Family, a Paternal Government', which might have continued 'for a considerable time after the deluge'. Here, the biblical account was combined with a more or less ethnographic approach. But this period was not at the centre of Pufendorf's interest, since, as the title of his book already indicated, he focused on the development of modern states and societies. For his purposes, for the analysis of present political and legal developments, biblical history was nothing more than a vague reference point"" (Godfrey 207-08). The work was published numerous times throughout the 18th century.‎