Write to the booksellers
Helmut Newton :
Work
Éditions Taschen, 2016, Broché, 280 pages.
Reference : AIX-2309
Très bon état.
Bookseller's contact details
Bouquinerie des Cinq Avenues
M. Alain Gilhodes
211 Boulevard de la Libération
13004 Marseille
France
bouquineriedescinqavenues@orange.fr
04 96 21 81 64
Payment mode
Sale conditions
Ventes fermes et comptant. Réglements chèques. Frais de port en sus. Les frais de port indiqués concernent la France et l'Europe, mais peuvent être plus importants au-delà de ces frontières et en fonction de l'évolution des tarifs postaux.
5 book(s) with the same title
Lexicon (in Greek). Hesychii Dictionarium. - [A MAIN WORK OF LINGUISTICS - THE FIRST GREEK WORK PRINTED IN HAGUENAU]
(On colophon-leaf:) Haguenau, in aedibus Thomae Badensis, 1521). Small folio. Beautiful full calf binding over wooden boards. Recently rebacked. Beautiful blindstamped ornamental borders to boards and remains of clasps, ties missing. A few smaller wormhols to boards, and two drilled holes of ab. the same size to lower part of front board (for a chain?). Ornamented incunable-leaves with red and blue initials used as pasted-down end-papers. Front free end-paper soiled, with neat 19th century inscription (stating editions of the work), and with a beautiful large, engraved armorial book-plate (Collection of Bryan Hall). First leaf with a larger damp-spot to lower part (not affecting any text). Otherwise a very nice copy with only some minor light marginal soiling, a small dampstain to lower inner corner of last ab. 8 leaves, far from affecting text, and a bit of light spotting to a few leaves towards the end. Beautiful large woodcut printer's device to last leaf. (1) f., 776 columns (i.e. 388 pp/ 194 ff.), (1 - colophon) f.
The rare 3rd edition of Hesychios' extremely important Greek dictionary, one of the most important works of philology and linguistics ever printed, this edition constituting the first Greek work to be printed in the famous Renaissance printing-city of Hagenau/Haguenau (in Alsace).The first edition of the work was printed by Aldus in Venice in 1514, and in 1520 a re-impression appeared. The present third edition, edited by Marcus Musurus and printed after the edition of 1514 of Aldus Manutius, constitutes the second re-impression of the work, but it is the first to be printed in Hagenau and the first by the notable printer Thomas Anshelm, who had settled in Haguenau in 1516, being the first to seriously rival Henry Gran here. Anshelm is regarded as one of the most important printers of what we now call the Humanist period of the Renaissance. All three editions are rare and important.Hesychios of Alexandria was a highly important grammarian and lexicographer, whose only surviving work is the present lexicon of unusual and obscure Greek words, the richest of its kind ever. It is assumed that the work was executed by Hesychios during the 5th century. The work is extraordinary in that it constitutes a huge and unique listing of peculiar Greek words and phrases, with explanations and often references to the originator or place of origin. As such, the work is of the greatest value to the both the student of Greek dialects as well as for the ongoing work of restoring the texts of classical authors, for which the present lexicon it still an indispensible tool. But Hesychios' work is not only of the utmost importance to Greek philology, it is also a main work in the study of lost languages and obscure non-Greek dialects (e.g. Thracian and ancient Macedonian). Furthermore, the work was instrumental in the reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European, one of the most, if not THE most, important philological tasks ever. Only in the late 18th century did Jones determine the connection between the Indo-European languages, thereby founding comparative philology. Only a very corrupt manuscript, from the 15th century, of the work survives, and it is this manuscript that Marcus Musurus used as the basis for the first printing of the work by Aldus in 1514. As stated, two re-impressions (with modest corrections) appeared of this Aldus-edition (ours being the second), and since then no complete comparative edition of the manuscript has been published, bestowing on these three scarce early editions a huge importance. A modern edition of the seminal work has, however, been in intermittent publication since 1953. The editor of the last wolume states the following about Hesychios' Lexicon: ""Hesychius of Alexandria lived in the fifth century A.D. and compiled a dictionary of unusual or difficult Greek words with explanations in Greek. Approximately 51,000 entries make it the richest surviving Greek lexicon compiled until the invention of printing. It is of great importance to Ancient Greek studies because it contains countless words and expressions from poetry, administration, medicine, and so on, that are otherwise unknown or insufficiently explained. In particular, numerous words from the Greek dialects are important, not only for Greek but also for Indo-European philology.The Lexicon suffered substantial alterations, including abridgements and additions on its way from the author to the only surviving manuscript (fifteenth century). The production of an edition that gives all important information about the manuscript and the work of earlier scholars, as well as meeting modern requirements for the noting of parallels in other lexicographical works, is a slow and difficult task. Marcus Musurus published the first edition in 1514 (reprinted in 1520 and 1521 with modest revisions). There have since been many plans for an edition, but only four were started. Of the four editors, only one, M. Schmidt, lived long enough to finish the work himself. His edition (1858-68) is now completely out of date.A new edition was one of the most urgent requirements in Greek studies already when the German scholar KURT LATTE began preliminary work in the 1920s for the Danish Academy's Commission for Corpus Lexicographorum Graecorum. The project was severely hampered by the events of 1933-45. Volumes 1-2 were published in 1953 and (posthumously) 1966."" (Peter Allan Hansen, Editor of the final part of the great ongoing project of the new printing of the Hesychius-Lexicon)""Hesychius , (flourished 5th century ad), author of the most important Greek lexicon known from antiquity, valued as a basic authority for the dialects and vocabularies of ancient inscriptions, poetic text, and the Greek Church Fathers."" (British Encycl.).Though not of particular fame or importance today, the small city of Haguenau played a dominating role in the late 15th and the first half of the 16th century, then being one of the most important centres of printing. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries a remarkably large number of books were issued from presses in this small town, located close to Strasbourg. Thomas Anshelm (fl. 1488-1522) is considered perhaps the most eminent of the early Hagenau printers. He established himself as a printer in Basle in 1485 but subsequently worked as a printer in Strasbourg (1488), Pforzheim (1500-1511), Tübingen (1511-1516), and finally Hagenau (1516-1522), having by then developed his printing technique to perfection.Graesse III:266
Letters Concerning The English Nation. - [A KEY WORK OF THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY]
London, 1733. 8vo. Bound in a lovely, contemporary English Cambridge-style full calf binding with a plain spine with five raised bands. Spine a bit cracked vertically and with minor loss to capitals. Corners a bit bumped and adges of boards a bit worn. Binding overall nice and tight. Small damp stain at the lower blank corner of the first few leaves, otherwise a very good, clean copy on thick, crisp paper. (16, -including preface, contents, advertisements), 253, (1), (18, -Index) pp.
The important actual first edition of this highly celebrated key work of the Enlightenment, in which the anecdote of how Newton discovered gravity (the story about Newton and the falling apple) appeared for the first time, together with the description of the difference between the physical world view of the English and the French (the ""plenum"" and the ""vacuum""). This seminal work, in which Voltaire famously depicts British philosophy, science, society and culture, in comparison to French, can be viewed as the Enlightenment equivalent to Tocqueville's ""Democracy in America"". This series of essays, which is based on Voltaire's experiences when living in England, was actually written by Voltaire mostly in English, which he mastered to perfection. It has often been presumed that the first edition of the work was that published in French in 1734, but actually, the present English edition constitutes the actual first appearance of the work as well as the version that is closest to Voltaire's intention, as the French language version is the re-written one, and the English version the original. Curiously, almost all modern English versions are translations into English of the French edition, instead of the original English version, making this edition of the utmost importance.After the original English edition of 1733, two French editions soon followed (the first in 1734). Unlike the British, the French resented the book, and already in 1734, the French Parliament issued an order for the author's arrest and condemned the work, causing the impact of it in France to be delayed. The book was burned for being ""dangerous to religion and civil order"". At the same time, the work became a bestseller in Britain, and as much as 14 editions of the work were published in the eighteenth century. ""Inspired by Voltaire's two-year stay in England (1726-8), this is one of the key works of the Enlightenment. Exactly contemporary with Gulliver's Travels and The Beggar's Opera, Voltaire's controversial pronouncements on politics, philosophy, religion, and literature have placed the Letters among the great Augustan satires. Voltaire wrote most of the book in English, in which he was fluent and witty, and it fast became a bestseller in Britain. He re-wrote it in French as the Lettres philosophiques, and current editions in English translate his French."" (Nicholas Cronk, Introduction to the Oxford's Classics edition from 1999).The great French philosopher Voltaire was greatly impressed by the philosophical and scientific achievements of the English, especially those of Newton, Locke, and Bacon. As a disseminator of scientific knowledge, Voltaire came to play a great rôle in the popularization of Newtonian science and its discoveries, the present work being a prime example. Although the work was condemned by the French authorities, it still came to play a great rôle in the spreading of Newtonian ideas in France. The present work generally came to play a dominant rôle in Enlightenment accounts of the history of science and philosophy. The work focuses on British science and thought and uses the accounts of these to emphasize what is lacking in French society and French thought. The work is generally very critical towards the French ""ancient régime"", and when Voltaire here discusses the emergence of empiricism, it is viewed as an English tradition that stands in opposition to the French rationalist tradition (with Descartes as the prime example). This view is taken over by the following Enlightenment historians of science and philosophy, e.g. d'Alembert (see for instance his ""Preliminary Discourse"" of 1751). Some of the most influential passages of the work are probably those on Bacon (who Voltaire sees as the founder of modern experimental science), Newton, and Descartes. Letters XIV, on Descartes and Newton, XV, on attraction, and XVI, on Newton's Optics (from 1704), are among the most influential essays of the work. In XVI Voltaire reflects upon Newton's ""Optics"" and the way that he rejected Descartes' theory and set out his own account of the properties of light. In XV he presents the first account of Newton and the falling apple: ""As he was walking one Day in his Garden, and saw some Fruits fall from a Tree, he fell into profound Meditation on that Gravity, the Cause of which had so long been sought, but in vain, by all the Philosophers, whilst the Vulgar think there is nothing mysterious in it. He said to himself, that from what height soever, in our Hemisphere, those Bodies might descend, their Fall wou'd certainly be in the Progression discover'd by Galileo" and the Spaces they run thro' would be as the Square of the Times. Why may not this Power which causes heavy Bodies to descend, and is the fame without any sensible Diminution at the remotest Distance from the Center of the Earth, or on the Summits of the highest Mountains" Why, said Sir Isaac, may not this Power extend as high as the Moon?..."" (pp. 127-28).But perhaps the most famous passage in the volume is the opening of Letter XIV: ""A Frenchman who arrives in London, will find Philosophy, like every Thing else, very much chang'd there. He had left the World a ""plenum"", and he now finds it a ""vacuum"". At Paris the Universe is seen, compos'd of Vortices of subtile Matter" but nothing like it is seen in London. In France, 'tis the Pressure of the Moon that causes the Tides but in England 'tis the Sea that gravitates towards the Moon" so that when you think that the Moon should make it Flood with us, those Gentlemen fancy it should be Ebb, which, very unluckily, cannot be prov'd..."" (pp. 109-10).
Letters Concerning the English Nation. - [A KEY WORK OF THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY]
London, C. Davis and A. Lyon, 1733. 8vo. Lovely contemporary full Cambridge-style binding with five raised bands to spine and blindstamped ornamental borders to boards. . Double gilt line-borders to boards. All edges of boards with gilt borders. Gilt title to spine. Hinges neatly and professionally re-inforced. Internally very nice, clean, and fresh. A lovely, crisp, and large copy with good margins, printed on heavy, fine paper. (16, -including preface, contents, advertisements), 253, (1), (18, -Index) pp.
The important actual first edition of this highly celebrated key work of the Enlightenment, in which the anecdote of how Newton discovered gravity (the story about Newton and the falling apple) appeared for the first time, together with the description of the difference between the physical world view of the English and the French (the ""plenum"" and the ""vacuum""). This seminal work, in which Voltaire famously depicts British philosophy, science, society and culture, in comparison to French, can be viewed as the Enlightenment equivalent to Tocqueville's ""Democracy in America"". This series of essays, which is based on Voltaire's experiences when living in England, was actually written by Voltaire mostly in English, which he mastered to perfection. It has often been presumed that the first edition of the work was that published in French in 1734, but actually, the present English edition constitutes the actual first appearance of the work as well as the version that is closest to Voltaire's intention, as the French language version is the re-written one, and the English version the original. Curiously, almost all modern English versions are translations into English of the French edition, instead of the original English version, making this edition of the utmost importance.After the original English edition of 1733, two French editions soon followed (the first in 1734). Unlike the British, the French resented the book, and already in 1734, the French Parliament issued an order for the author's arrest and condemned the work, causing the impact of it in France to be delayed. The book was burned for being ""dangerous to religion and civil order"". At the same time, the work became a bestseller in Britain, and as much as 14 editions of the work were published in the eighteenth century. ""Inspired by Voltaire's two-year stay in England (1726-8), this is one of the key works of the Enlightenment. Exactly contemporary with Gulliver's Travels and The Beggar's Opera, Voltaire's controversial pronouncements on politics, philosophy, religion, and literature have placed the Letters among the great Augustan satires. Voltaire wrote most of the book in English, in which he was fluent and witty, and it fast became a bestseller in Britain. He re-wrote it in French as the Lettres philosophiques, and current editions in English translate his French."" (Nicholas Cronk, Introduction to the Oxford's Classics edition from 1999).The great French philosopher Voltaire was greatly impressed by the philosophical and scientific achievements of the English, especially those of Newton, Locke, and Bacon. As a disseminator of scientific knowledge, Voltaire came to play a great rôle in the popularization of Newtonian science and its discoveries, the present work being a prime example. Although the work was condemned by the French authorities, it still came to play a great rôle in the spreading of Newtonian ideas in France. The present work generally came to play a dominant rôle in Enlightenment accounts of the history of science and philosophy. The work focuses on British science and thought and uses the accounts of these to emphasize what is lacking in French society and French thought. The work is generally very critical towards the French ""ancient régime"", and when Voltaire here discusses the emergence of empiricism, it is viewed as an English tradition that stands in opposition to the French rationalist tradition (with Descartes as the prime example). This view is taken over by the following Enlightenment historians of science and philosophy, e.g. d'Alembert (see for instance his ""Preliminary Discourse"" of 1751). Some of the most influential passages of the work are probably those on Bacon (who Voltaire sees as the founder of modern experimental science), Newton, and Descartes. Letters XIV, on Descartes and Newton, XV, on attraction, and XVI, on Newton's Optics (from 1704), are among the most influential essays of the work. In XVI Voltaire reflects upon Newton's ""Optics"" and the way that he rejected Descartes' theory and set out his own account of the properties of light. In XV he presents the first account of Newton and the falling apple: ""As he was walking one Day in his Garden, and saw some Fruits fall from a Tree, he fell into profound Meditation on that Gravity, the Cause of which had so long been sought, but in vain, by all the Philosophers, whilst the Vulgar think there is nothing mysterious in it. He said to himself, that from what height soever, in our Hemisphere, those Bodies might descend, their Fall wou'd certainly be in the Progression discover'd by Galileo" and the Spaces they run thro' would be as the Square of the Times. Why may not this Power which causes heavy Bodies to descend, and is the fame without any sensible Diminution at the remotest Distance from the Center of the Earth, or on the Summits of the highest Mountains" Why, said Sir Isaac, may not this Power extend as high as the Moon?..."" (pp. 127-28).But perhaps the most famous passage in the volume is the opening of Letter XIV: ""A Frenchman who arrives in London, will find Philosophy, like every Thing else, very much chang'd there. He had left the World a ""plenum"", and he now finds it a ""vacuum"". At Paris the Universe is seen, compos'd of Vortices of subtile Matter" but nothing like it is seen in London. In France, 'tis the Pressure of the Moon that causes the Tides but in England 'tis the Sea that gravitates towards the Moon" so that when you think that the Moon should make it Flood with us, those Gentlemen fancy it should be Ebb, which, very unluckily, cannot be prov'd..."" (pp. 109-10).
Horae Subsecuiae. Observations and Discourses. - [HOBBES' EARLIEST PUBLISHED WORK]
London, Edward Blunt, 1620. 8vo. Contemporary full speckled calf, expertly rebacked to style with four raised bacds and gilt line-decoration. Front free end-paper with notes dated 1637. Note station ""Lord Bacon"" in early hand to title-page. P. 57 with a 20th century stamp (""Library of Washington University""). A bit closely shaved at top, occasionally cropping border. A very nice copy. (8), 222, (4 - 1 blank leaf and 1 leaf with half-title ""A Discourse Upon the Beginning of Tacitus""), pp., pp. 223-324, (1 f. with half-title: A Discourse Of Rome), pp. 325-(418), (1 f. with half-title: A Discourse Against Flatterie), pp. 419-(504), (1 f. with half-title: A Discourse of Lawes), pp. 505-542.
The very rare first edition of this extremely important collection of essays, three of which have now been proven to have been written by Thomas Hobbes, thus constituting his earliest published work. The work is now widely regarded a highly important source to the understanding of what is arguably the greatest political thinker of all time, providing us with unprecedented access to the early writings and thought of Thomas Hobbes. ""Studies of the early Hobbes can be enriched and deepened by a consideration of the formerly anonymous texts now identified as the philosopher's earliest work, namely the essays ""A Discourse on Tacitus"", ""A Discourse on Rome"", ""A Discourse on Laws"", found in a larger collection entitled ""Horae Subseciuae: Observations and Discourses"". Originally thought to have been the work of the young William Cavendish, who under Hobbes's supervision likely wrote the majority of the ""Horae"" essays, these three discourses have since been identified... as the work of Hobbes himself."" (Butler). ""The entire work consists of twelve essays or ""observations"" reminiscent in style and language of Bacon's essays and devoted to such topics as arrogance, expenses, reading history, religion, and death, and four much longer discourses, three of which we have been able to attribute to Hobbes."" (Reynolds & Saxenhouse p. 4). Efforts to identify the author of the ""Horae Subseciuae"" began almost immediately after its anonymous publication, and the publication has always been a source of speculation about the author. As it would turn out, all twelve essays were not written by the same author, and three of them were written by one of modernity's greatest philosophers. It was Leo Strauss who first provided something resembling evidence that the writings were by Thomas Hobbes. He had come upon the original manuscript and concluded that it was indeed in Hobbes's hand. But handwriting, of course, does not prove authorship. It does prove a connection, with the work, however, and the exact connection with the three essays would be proven some decades later, by Saxonhouse and Reynolds, who famously published the three essays together, under Hobbes's name for the first time. ""For the first time in three centuries, this book brings back into print three discourses now confirmed to have been written by the young Thomas Hobbes. Their contents may well lead to a resolution of the long-standing controversy surrounding Hobbes's early influences and the subsequent development of his thought. The volume begins with the recent history of the discourses, first published as part of the anonymous seventeenth-century work, ""Horae Subsecivae"". Drawing upon both internal evidence and external confirmation afforded by new statistical ""wordprinting"" techniques, the editors present a compelling case for Hobbes's authorship. Saxonhouse and Reynolds present the complete texts of the discourse with full annotations and modernized spellings. These are followed by a lengthy essay analyzing the pieces' significance for Hobbes's intellectual development and modern political thought more generally. The discourses provide the strongest evidence to date for the profound influences of Bacon and Machiavelli on the young Hobbes, and they add a new dimension to the much-debated impact of the scientific method on his thought. The book also contains both introductory and in-depth explanations of statistical ""wordprinting."" Saxonhouse and Reynolds met each other at a conference in 1988 and decided to join forces to determine, whether Thomas Hobbes was the actual author of the ""Horae Subseciuae"", which had often been speculated. ""Fortuitously, Reynolds was closely involved with statisticians at Bringham Young University who have done some of the most important work in developing statistical techniques for identifying authorship for disputed texts, or ""wordprinting."" ...The results relative to the ""Horae Subseciuae"" were both exhilarating and disappointing. The three discourses published here could definitely be attributed to Hobbes, but the volume's twelve shorter essays or observations which draw heavily on Baconian themes and language, portraying the passionate young aristocrat with all his foibles, and the fourth discourse, were authored by someone else - perhaps Hobbes's tutee, but clearly not Hobbes himself. While it would have been more satisfying to have the entire work match Hobbes's later writings, we thought that the identification of the three discourses as previously unrecognized and unacknowledged Hobbesian works was of great significance and that they were worthy of republication. These three discourses give us direct access to Hobbes's intellectual concerns and motivating interests at a point almost two decades earlier than was possible through his previous recognized writings."" (Reynolds & Saxenhouse, pp. VII-VIII). Apart from a poem in his hand, nothing had remained to help us understand the early intellectual development of Hobbes and the early influences upon his thought, before his translation of Thucydides, which appeared in 1627, when he was almost 40 years old. These important early texts give us access to Hobbes's early thought, thereby letting us understand how he developed his political science. Shortly after taking his degree, Hobbes became engaged as a tutor to the Cavendish family, with whom he maintained a close connection for the rest of his life. Hobbes was first hired to serve as a tutor and companion to William Cavendish, later the Second Earl of Devonshire, and subsequently taught William's son and grandson. In 1610, Hobbes and his first charge embarked on a grand tour of the continent, traveling primarily to France and Italy.Hobbes remained with William for the next twenty years, later serving as his secretary and becoming a close friend and confidant. It has previously been thought that Hobbes published nothing during this time, but as it has recently turned out, he did indeed contribute the three essays ""A Discourse on Tacitus"", ""A Discourse on Rome"", ""A Discourse on Laws"" to the ""Horae Subseciuae"", that was presumably publiahed by William Cavendish, who arguably wrote if not all, then most of the other essays in the volume. Shortly after William died, Hobbes published the first translation of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War into English (1628). During this period, Hobbes also worked occasionally for the Lord Chancellor and great scientist Francis Bacon, who highly valued him as a secretary, translator, and conversation partner, and to whom the present work has also be ascribed during the centuries. Noel B. Reynolds and Arlene W. Saxenhouse in: ""Three Discourses: A Critical Modern edition of Newly Identified Work of the Young Thomas Hobbes"", 1995. Todd Butler: Imagination and Politics in Seventeenth-Century England, 2017
Eight Bookes of the Peloponnesian Warre. Interpreted with Faith and Diligence Immediately out of the Greeke by Thomas Hobbes. - [FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE OF HOBBES'S FIRST PUBLISHED WORK]
London, Hein: Seile, 1629. Folio. Contemporary full brown calf with six raised bands, gilt line-decoration and gilt title-label to spine. Triple blindstamped borders to boards. Restored at hinges, capitals and corners, with leather slightly lighter than the original calf. With the large armorial book-plate of Robert Biddulph Phillipps Esq., Logworth Herefordshire to inside of front board as well as Phillips Libarry book-plate of St. Michael's Monastery, Belmont. A few creases to the first leaves. A(1)r darkened and dusty, and last leaf of The Table slightly darkened. Overall a very good copy. Woordcut hear- and tail-pieces and large initials. Printed within lined borders. The folded map with a tear towards outer right corner, no loss. Engraved illustrated title-page (in ten compartments with figures and scenes, by Cecill) + 32, 536 (recte: 535), (10) pp. + 2 engraved plates and three large engraved maps, one folded, two double-page.
Very scarce first edition, first issue of Hobbes’s first published work, being his seminal translation of Thucydides’ Eight Books on the Peloponnesian War, also constituting the first translation of the work into English from the original Greek. The work is of the utmost importance to the development and shaping of political modernity and lies at the heart of Hobbes’ civil science. As Robertson says, “For Thucydides, Hobbes’s early preference amounted to a positive affection… his business is not translating but already political instruction, which he might afterwards attempt by other means.” (See Macdonad and Hargreaves). In his “Vita Carmine Expressa”, Hobbes said he had made the translation so that his contemporaries might learn from the fate of the Athenian democracy how much wiser one man is than the mass of men. Due to his attention to accurate research, Thucydides is considered one of the greatest ancient Greek historians. His account of the war between Athens and Sparta in the 5th century BC is one of the first works of history to combine political and ethical reflections with history writing. Thus, as curious as it may seem to some, it seems fitting that the first work to come from the pen of the towering figure of political thought should be a translation of precisely this work. ""The standards and methods of Thucydides as a contemporary historian have never been bettered. He began work at the very start of the events he records, and the penetration and concentration which he devoted to his account of the ""Peleponnesian War"" were based on the conviction that it would prove the most important event in Greek history... Thucydides has been valued as he hoped: statesmen as well as historians, men of affairs as well as scholars, have read an profited by him"" (Printing and the Mind of Man: 102) There seems to be no doubt amongst Hobbes scholars about the importance of this translation for the rest of Hobbes’ political work. It can be viewed as laying the foundation for the theories for which he would later become famous. In many ways, Hobbes took ideas from Thucydides and arranged them in the highly structures framework of the first social contract theory. Both writers seem to have strikingly similar views on many of the key themes of Political Realism. Although many students of Thucydides would associate his Peloponnesian War with pro-democratic sentiments, Hobbes maintained that of all historians “he shows how incompetent democracy is”, and Hobbes clearly focused his reading on the pro-monarchial aspects of the work in its central coverage of the decline of Athenian democracy. “Thomas Hobbes began his career of scholar, man of letters, and philosopher by translating Thucydides… “The History of the Penoponnesian War” apparently crystallized for Hobbes many of the ideas fundamental in his later political philosophy. In translating and studying Thucydides Hobbes was carrying on the Renaissance tradition of turning to the Greek and Roman historians with the expectation of learning how to solve the problems of modern politics.” (Richard Schlatter: Thomas Hobbes and Thucydides, p. 350). With this foundational translation, Hobbes also inscribes himself in a tradition attempting to make available to modern English readers facts and examples of historical events that showed the necessity of underpinning an ethical, English law of nations. Hobbes’s Thucydides was vitally concerned with the law of nations and concerned particularly with the legal justifications and moral obligations of empire. Hobbes published a translation of Thucydides’s History of the Peloponnesian War in 1628, long before publishing his own work on political philosophy. The translation has long been considered a masterful rendering of the ancient Greek and a work of art in its own right. Furthermore, Hobbes’s presentation of Thucydides’s writing on civil war and democracy sheds light on the opinions Hobbes expresses later in his more famous works. (From Devid Grene edt.: Translation of Thucydides’ Peloponnesian War [1629], Chicago University Press, 1989). Beyond the text, Hobbes’s translation includes his introduction “To The Readers” as well as his “On the Life and the History of Thucydides”, which sheds light on the importance Hobbes finds that the text has for contemporary English political thought. It also contains a map representing Greece at the time of Thucydides, which Hobbes drew himself, apart from two other maps and two further illustrations. Hobbes’s great translation appeared in print several times and eventually became widely read. Although Hobbes had initially held back his first publication for some time, doubting whether he would get readers enough, he eventually published it, “deciding to content with “the few and better sort” “ (Mcdonald and Hargreaves). The first issue appeared in small numbers and is now extremely rare on the market. A second issue appeared in 1634 and a third in 1648. In 1676, the second edition appeared, followed by a third edition in 1723. Macdonald and Hargreaves nr. 1.
