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POMERAND Gabriel
Le D. Man
Paris, Christian Bourgois éditeur, 1966, 12 x 20, 176 pages cousues sous couverture rempliée imprimée. EDITION ORIGINALE sur papier courant.
Reference : EOOOOOOOOHH660520
Une petite tache à la première de couverture.
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5 book(s) with the same title
Proiskhozhdenie chelovieska i polovoi podbor [i.e. English ""Descent of Man""]. - [FIRST TRANSLATION OF DARWIN'S 'DESCENT OF MAN' INTO ANY LANGUAGE]
S.-Peterburg, Izdanie redaktsii zhurnala ""Znanie, 1871. 8vo. In contemporary black half calf with four rasied bands and gilt lettering to spine. Corners of binding with repairs and a three cm long tear to lower front hindge. Light miscolouring throughout, especially to first 10 leaves. (2), VII, (6), 439 pp.
The exceedingly rare first Russian translation of Darwin's 'Descent of Man' published only four month after the original English. The Russian publisher was eager to have a translation published, hence this early abridged edition - two other Russian translations followed later the same year - The present translation being the very first into any language. ""The Descent of Man showed that the process of organic evolution, propelled by the struggle for existence and natural selection, applied to man no less than to the rest of the animal kingdom. It gave explicit recognition to the idea of the anthropoid origin of man. This claim surprised no one, for it was clearly hinted at in the great work of 1859 and was elaborated in Thomas Huxley's Man's Place in Nature and Vogt's Lectures on Man. Nor was it much of a surprise when three Russian translations of The Descent appeared within one year after the publication of the English original. Two general ideas represented the essence of The Descent: natural selection is not only behind the physical survival of man but also behind the evolution of cultural values"" and the differences between animal and human behavior are differences of degree rather than of kind."" (Darwin in Russian Thought) ""The Expression helped lay the foundations for a scientific study of the psychological aspect of the evolution of species. The book appeared in a Russian translation only a few months after the publication of the English original. The paleontologist Vladimir Kovalevskii was the translator, and the embryologist Aleksandr Kovalevskii was in charge of editorial tasks. In 1874 Vladimir wrote to Darwin that nearly two thousand copies of the Russian translation were sold."" "" The Expression deals much more extensively with selected aspects of human and animal behavior than with general problems of evolutionary biology. The Russian reviewers were generally impressed with Darwin's descriptions and categorizations of animal behavior. The Journal of the Ministry of Public Education was unusually profuse in praising the book's content and writing style. The reviewer commended Darwin's impartiality and avoidance of ""materialistic trappings."" Even the adherents of spiritualism could read the book, he wrote, without the least discomfort. The reviewer thought that psychologists would benefit from the information the book presented on the ""physiological"" basis of behavior. Indeed, he recommended the book to all readers interested in the scientific foundations of human behavior. The liberal journal Knowledgewas equally laudatory. It noted that the book was eminently successful on two counts: it offered a ""rational explanation"" of many expressions of human emotions, and it integrated the study of animal and human behavior into the universal process of organic evolution. In fact, no educated person could afford to ignore it.N. P. Vagner, professor of zoology and comparative anatomy at St. Petersburg University, called The Expression a book with ""great strengths and minor flaws."" The volume reminded him of Darwin's previous works, which marked ""turning points in the history of science."" The strength of the book lay much more in its suggestion of new topics for comparative-psychological research than in a presentation of a theoretically and logically integrated system of scientific thought. Insufficient exploration of the physiological underpinnings of mental activities represented the book's major shortcoming"" (Darwin in Russian Thought) In Russia Darwinism had a profound influence not only upon the different sciences, but also on philosophy, economic and political thought, and the great literature of the period. For instance, both Tolstoy and Dostoevsky referenced Darwin in their most important works, as did numerous other thinkers of the period.Like Strakhov, however, Dostoevsky, acknowledging the significance of the ""Origin of Species"", saw the dangers of the theory. In the same year as the publication of Rachinsky's translation, he lets the narrator in ""Notes from Underground"" (1864) launch his attack on Darwinism , beginning: ""As soon as they prove you, for instance, that you are descended from a monkey, then it's no use scowling, you just have to accept it.""In ""Crime and Punishment"" (two years later, 1866) the Darwinian overtones inherent in Raskolnikov's theory of the extraordinary man are unmistakable. He describes the mechanism of ""natural selection,"" where, according to the laws of nature, by the crossing of races and types, a ""genius"" would eventually emerge. In general, Darwinian themes and Darwin's name occur in many contexts in a large number of Dostoevsky's works.'Descent of Man' was transted into Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Polish, Russian and Swedish in Darwin's lifetime. Freeman 1107.
Proiskhozhdenie chelovieska i polovoi podbor [i.e. English ""Descent of Man""]. - [FIRST TRANSLATION OF DARWIN'S 'DESCENT OF MAN' INTO ANY LANGUAGE]
S.-Peterburg, Izdanie redaktsii zhurnala ""Znanie, 1871. 8vo. In recent half calf with four rasied bands and gilt lettering to spine. Soiling and damp stain to title-page. Light brownspotting throughout. (2), VII, (5), 439, (7) pp.
The exceedingly rare first Russian translation of Darwin's 'Descent of Man' published only four months after the original English. The Russian publisher was eager to have a translation published, hence this early abridged edition - two other Russian translations followed later the same year - The present translation being the very first into any language. ""The Descent of Man showed that the process of organic evolution, propelled by the struggle for existence and natural selection, applied to man no less than to the rest of the animal kingdom. It gave explicit recognition to the idea of the anthropoid origin of man. This claim surprised no one, for it was clearly hinted at in the great work of 1859 and was elaborated in Thomas Huxley's Man's Place in Nature and Vogt's Lectures on Man. Nor was it much of a surprise when three Russian translations of The Descent appeared within one year after the publication of the English original. Two general ideas represented the essence of The Descent: natural selection is not only behind the physical survival of man but also behind the evolution of cultural values"" and the differences between animal and human behavior are differences of degree rather than of kind."" (Darwin in Russian Thought) ""The Expression helped lay the foundations for a scientific study of the psychological aspect of the evolution of species. The book appeared in a Russian translation only a few months after the publication of the English original. The paleontologist Vladimir Kovalevskii was the translator, and the embryologist Aleksandr Kovalevskii was in charge of editorial tasks. In 1874 Vladimir wrote to Darwin that nearly two thousand copies of the Russian translation were sold."" "" The Expression deals much more extensively with selected aspects of human and animal behavior than with general problems of evolutionary biology. The Russian reviewers were generally impressed with Darwin's descriptions and categorizations of animal behavior. The Journal of the Ministry of Public Education was unusually profuse in praising the book's content and writing style. The reviewer commended Darwin's impartiality and avoidance of ""materialistic trappings."" Even the adherents of spiritualism could read the book, he wrote, without the least discomfort. The reviewer thought that psychologists would benefit from the information the book presented on the ""physiological"" basis of behavior. Indeed, he recommended the book to all readers interested in the scientific foundations of human behavior. The liberal journal Knowledgewas equally laudatory. It noted that the book was eminently successful on two counts: it offered a ""rational explanation"" of many expressions of human emotions, and it integrated the study of animal and human behavior into the universal process of organic evolution. In fact, no educated person could afford to ignore it.N. P. Vagner, professor of zoology and comparative anatomy at St. Petersburg University, called The Expression a book with ""great strengths and minor flaws."" The volume reminded him of Darwin's previous works, which marked ""turning points in the history of science."" The strength of the book lay much more in its suggestion of new topics for comparative-psychological research than in a presentation of a theoretically and logically integrated system of scientific thought. Insufficient exploration of the physiological underpinnings of mental activities represented the book's major shortcoming"" (Darwin in Russian Thought) In Russia Darwinism had a profound influence not only upon the different sciences, but also on philosophy, economic and political thought, and the great literature of the period. For instance, both Tolstoy and Dostoevsky referenced Darwin in their most important works, as did numerous other thinkers of the period.Like Strakhov, however, Dostoevsky, acknowledging the significance of the ""Origin of Species"", saw the dangers of the theory. In the same year as the publication of Rachinsky's translation, he lets the narrator in ""Notes from Underground"" (1864) launch his attack on Darwinism , beginning: ""As soon as they prove you, for instance, that you are descended from a monkey, then it's no use scowling, you just have to accept it.""In ""Crime and Punishment"" (two years later, 1866) the Darwinian overtones inherent in Raskolnikov's theory of the extraordinary man are unmistakable. He describes the mechanism of ""natural selection,"" where, according to the laws of nature, by the crossing of races and types, a ""genius"" would eventually emerge. In general, Darwinian themes and Darwin's name occur in many contexts in a large number of Dostoevsky's works.'Descent of Man' was transted into Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Polish, Russian and Swedish in Darwin's lifetime. Freeman 1107.
"CONDORCET, (MARIE JEAN ANTOINE NICOLAS CARITAT MARQUIS de).
Reference : 61971
(1797)
Udkast til et Historisk Skilderie af den menneskelige Aands Fremskridt. I Haandskrivt efterladt. Oversat af K.H. seidelin. - [CAN MAN BECOME PERFECT?]
København, Tikiøbs Forlag, 1797. 8vo. Bound in a contemporary half calf binding with gilt spine and gilt title label. Minor cracks to spine. Insignificant wear to capitals. Edges of boards worn. Corners bumped. Bibliographical notes to front free endpaper. Small ownership stamp to verso of title page. Evenly browned. XII,(2),368,(1: errata) pp.
The extremely rare first Danish edition of Condorcet's main work ""Esquisse d'un tableau historique des progrès de l'esprit humain.1795"", ""the most fully developed exposition of the progress of man"" (Printing and the Mind of Man, p. 149) and a main work of the Enlightenment as well as of historical thought in general. The author was the creator of what came to found the basis for the modern French system. The great French philosopher, political thinker and mathematician, M.J.A. Condorcet (1743 - 1794), played a seminal role in 18th century France. He was friends with the likes of d'Alembert, Voltaire, Turgot etc., and he greatly contributed to the social and political debates of politically turbulent France. As one of the few, he advocated a liberal economy, equality in public education as well as in gender and race etc. He preached constitutionalism, and his thoughts that are still influential today embody those of the Enlightenment and rationalism.""A belief in the ultimate perfectibility of man lies at the root of all progressive thinking about the human condition. The ""philosophes"" and Godwin had familiarized the reading public with this notion" it was left to Condorcet to give it its finest and most durable expression. It was the gospel of nineteenth century that mankind is destined for indefinite future progress. Condorcet, looking back and then forward, saw proof of this in the growing equality between classes and nations, the intellectual, physical and moral improvement of man" and he prophesied that popular education on correct principles would strengthen and assure this progress."" (PMM 246).During the French Revolution Condorcet came to play a dominating role, advocating a rationalist reconstruction of society, and he championed many liberal causes. In 1791 he became secretary of the Legislation Assembly, and the institution adopted his scheme for comprehensive state education, which later became the basis of the modern French system. In the struggle between the two political parties, the Girondists and the Montagnards, Condorcet occupied an independent role, but when he opposed the death penalty under the trial of King Louis XVI (still supporting the actual trial), and the radical Montagnards gained more power, Condorcet was branded a traitor, and in October 1793 a warrant was issued for his arrest. He now went into hiding for several months (almost a year), and it is during these months that he writes the work that was to become his most important, the main work ""Esquisse..."" (""Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind""), which was published posthumously, the year after his death. In 1794 Condorcet was arrested, and two days later he was found dead in his cell, -it is unknown whether he committed suicide or was murdered because of fear of fierce reactions that would definitely have occurred had the beloved man been officially sentenced to the death penalty.""In the Esquisse"", published after his death, Condorcet traces the history of man through epochs, the first three covering his progress from savagery to pastoral community and thence to the agricultural state. The next five span the growth of civilizations and knowledge down to Descartes, and the ninth describes the revolution of Condorcet's own lifetime, from Newton to Rousseau. The prophetic view of the tenth epoch shows Condorcet at his most original. He forecasts the destruction of inequality between nation and classes, and the improvement, intellectual, moral and physical, of human nature..., it exercised considerable influence on Comte. But it is as the most fully developed exposition of the progress of man that Condorcet's work is now remembered, and it is this which has given it its lasting appeal."" (PMM 246).
"CONDORCET, (MARIE JEAN ANTOINE NICOLAS CARITAT MARQUIS de).
Reference : 42119
(1795)
Esquisse d'un tableau historique des progrès de l'esprit humain. - [PMM 246 - CAN MAN BECOME PERFECT?]
Paris, Agasse, l'an III de la République, une et indivisible (1795). 8vo. Bound in a very nice newer pastiche-binding in full mottled calf. Five raised bands and gilt title-label to spine. A very nice, clean, fresh, and attractive copy. VIII, 389 pp.
The rare first edition of Condorcet's main work, ""the most fully developed exposition of the progress of man"" (Printing and the Mind of Man, p. 149) and a main work of the Enlightenment as well as of historical thought in general. The author was the creator of what came to found the basis for the modern French system. The great French philosopher, political thinker and mathematician, M.J.A. Condorcet (1743 - 1794), played a seminal role in 18th century France. He was friends with the likes of d'Alembert, Voltaire, Turgot etc., and he greatly contributed to the social and political debates of politically turbulent France. As one of the few, he advocated a liberal economy, equality in public education as well as in gender and race etc. He preached constitutionalism, and his thoughts that are still influential today embody those of the Enlightenment and rationalism.""A belief in the ultimate perfectibility of man lies at the root of all progressive thinking about the human condition. The ""philosophes"" and Godwin had familiarized the reading public with this notion" it was left to Condorcet to give it its finest and most durable expression. It was the gospel of nineteenth century that mankind is destined for indefinite future progress. Condorcet, looking back and then forward, saw proof of this in the growing equality between classes and nations, the intellectual, physical and moral improvement of man" and he prophesied that popular education on correct principles would strengthen and assure this progress."" (PMM 246).During the French Revolution Condorcet came to play a dominating role, advocating a rationalist reconstruction of society, and he championed many liberal causes. In 1791 he became secretary of the Legislation Assembly, and the institution adopted his scheme for comprehensive state education, which later became the basis of the modern French system. In the struggle between the two political parties, the Girondists and the Montagnards, Condorcet occupied an independent role, but when he opposed the death penalty under the trial of King Louis XVI (still supporting the actual trial), and the radical Montagnards gained more power, Condorcet was branded a traitor, and in October 1793 a warrant was issued for his arrest. He now went into hiding for several months (almost a year), and it is during these months that he writes the work that was to become his most important, the main work ""Esquisse..."" (""Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind""), which was published posthumously, the year after his death. In 1794 Condorcet was arrested, and two days later he was found dead in his cell, -it is unknown whether he committed suicide or was murdered because of fear of fierce reactions that would definitely have occurred had the beloved man been officially sentenced to the death penalty.""In the Esquisse"", published after his death, Condorcet traces the history of man through epochs, the first three covering his progress from savagery to pastoral community and thence to the agricultural state. The next five span the growth of civilizations and knowledge down to Descartes, and the ninth describes the revolution of Condorcet's own lifetime, from Newton to Rousseau. The prophetic view of the tenth epoch shows Condorcet at his most original. He forecasts the destruction of inequality between nation and classes, and the improvement, intellectual, moral and physical, of human nature..., it exercised considerable influence on Comte. But it is as the most fully developed exposition of the progress of man that Condorcet's work is now remembered, and it is this which has given it its lasting appeal."" (PMM 246).
Systeme de la Nature ou Des Loix du Monde Physique & du Monde Moral. 2 vols. - [""MAN IS OF ALL BEINGS THE MOST NECESSARY TO MAN""]
London, 1774. 8vo. 2 volumes uniformly bound in contemporary half calf with gilt ornamentation to spine. Spines with wear of boards miscoloured. Internally fine and clean. (16) 397 pp."" (4), 500, (3) pp. Wanting the frontispiece.
Later edition, published four years after the original, comprising ""The System of Nature"" - one of the most important works of natural philosophy ever written and the work that is considered the main work of materialism - and ""The Social System"", being d'Holbach's seminal ""social"" and political continuation of that groundbreaking work. D'Holbach (1723-1789), who was raised by a wealthy uncle, whom he inherited, together with his title of Baron, in 1753, maintained one of the most famous salons in Paris. This salon became the social and intellectual centre for the Encyclopédie, which was edited by Diderot and d'Alembert, whom he became closely connected with. D'Holbach himself also contributed decisively to the Encyclopédie, with at least 400 signed contributions, and probably as many unsigned, between 1752 and 1765. The ""Côterie holbachique"" or ""the café of Europe"", as the salon was known, attracted the most brilliant scientists, philosophers, writers and artists of the time (e.g. Diderot, d'Alembert, Helvetius, Voltaire, Hume, Sterne etc, etc.), and it became one of the most important gathering-places for the exchange of philosophical, scientific and political views under the ""ancient régime"". Apart from developing several foundational theories of seminal scientific and philosophical value, D'Holbach became known as one of the most skilled propagators and popularizers of scientific and philosophical ideas, promoting scientific progress and spreading philosophical ideas in a new and highly effective manner. As the theories of d'Holbach's two systematic works were at least as anticlerical and unaccepted as those of his smaller tracts, and on top of that so well presented and so convincing, it would have been dangerous for him to print any of them under his own name, and even under the name of the city or printer. Thus, ""Systême de la Nature"" appeared pseudonomously under the name of the secretary of the Académie Francaise, J.B. Mirabaud, who had died 10 years earlier, and under a fictive place of printing, namely London instead of Amsterdam. ""He could not publish safely under his own name, but had the ingenious idea of using the names of recently dead French authors. Thus, in 1770, his most famous book, ""The System of Nature"", appeared under the name Jean-Baptiste Mirabaud"" (PMM 215), and so the next ""System"" also appeared in the same manner three years later. D'Holbach was himself the most audacious philosophe of this circle. During the 1760's he caused numerous anticlerical tracts (written in large, but not entirely, by himself) to be clandestinely printed abroad and illegally circulated in France. His philosophical masterpiece, the ""Système de la nature, ou des lois du monde physique et du monde moral"", a methodological and intransigent affirmation of materialism and atheism, appeared anonymously in 1770"" (D.S.B. VI:468), as did the social and political follow-up of it, the famous ""Systême social"" in 1773. That is to say, Mirabeau whom he had used as the author on the ""System of Nature"" in 1770 is not mentioned in the ""Social System"", on the title-page of which is merely stated ""By the Author of ""Systême de la Nature"". In his main work, the monumental ""Système de la Nature"", d'Holbach presented that which was to become one of the most influential philosophical theories of the time, combined with and based on a complex of advanced scientific thought. He postulated materialism, and that on the basis of science and empiricism, on the basis of his elaborate picture of the universe as a self-created and self-creating entity that is constituted by material elements that each possess specific energies. He concludes, on the basis of empiricism and the positive truths that the science of his time had attained, that ideas such as God, immortality, creation etc. must be either contradictory or futile, and as such, his materialism naturally also propounded atheism"" his theory of the universe showed that nature is the product of matter (eternally in motion and arranged in accordance with mechanical laws), and that reality is nothing but nature. Thus, having in his ""Systême de la Nature"" presented philosophical materialism in an actual system for the first time and having created a work that dared unite the essence of all the essential material of the English and French Enlightenment and incorporate it into a closed materialistic system, d'Holbach had provided the modern world with a moral and ethic philosophy, the effects of which were tremendous. It is this materialism and atheism that he continues three years later in his next systematic work ""Systême social"", through which politics, morality, and sociology are also incorporated into his system and take the place of the Christianity that he had so fiercely attacked earlier on. In this great work he extends his ethical views to the state and continues the description of human interest from ""Systême de la Nature"" by developing a notion of the just state (by d'Holbach called ""ethocracy"") that is to secure general welfare. ""Système social (1773"" ""Social System"") placed morality and politics in a utilitarian framework wherein duty became prudent self-interest."" (Encyclopaedia Brittanica). ""Holbach's foundational view is that the most valuable thing a person seeking self-preservation can do is to unite with another person: ""Man is of all beings the most necessary to man"" (Sysème social, 76"" cf. Spinoza's Ethics IVP35C1, C2, and S). Society, when it is just, unites for the common purpose of preservation and the securing of welfare, and society contracts with government for this purpose."" (SEP). Both works had a sensational impact. For the first time, philosophical materialism is presented in an actual system, and with the second of them, this system also comprised politics and sociology, a fact which became essential to the influence and spreading of this atheistic scientific-philosophical strand. The effects of the works were tremendous, and the consequences of their success were immeasurable, thus, already in the years of publication, both works were confiscated. The ""Système de la Nature"" was condemned to burning by the Parisian parliament in the year of its publication"" the ""Système social"" was on the list of books to be confiscated already in 1773, and it was placed on the Index of the Church in August 1775. Both works are thus scarce. In spite of their condemnation, and in spite of the reluctance of contemporary writers to acknowledge the works as dangerous (as Goethe said in ""Dichtung und Wahrheit"": ""Wir begriffen nicht, wie ein solches Buch gefährlich sein könnte. Es kam uns so grau, so todtenhaft vor""), the ""Systems"" and d'Holbach's materialism continued its influence on philosophic, political and scientific thought. In fact, it was this materialism that for Marx became the social basis of communism. ""In the ""Système"" Holbach rejected the Cartesian mind-body dualism and attempted to explain all phenomena, physical and mental, in terms of matter in motion. He derived the moral and intellectual faculties from man's sensibility to impressions made by the external world, and saw human actions as entirely determined by pleasure and pain. He continued his direct attack on religion by attempting to show that it derived entirely from habit and custom. But the Systeme was not a negative or destructive book: Holbach rejected religion because he saw it as a wholly harmful influence, and he tried to supply a more desirable alternative. ""(Printing and the Mind of Man, 215). ""In keeping with such a naturalistic conception of tings, d'Holbach outlined an anticreationalist cosmology and a nondiluvian geology. He proposed a transformistic hypothesis regarding the origins of the animal species, including man, and described the successive changes, or new emergences, of organic beings as a function of ecology, that is, of the geological transformation of the earth itself and of its life-sustaining environment. While all this remained admittedly on the level of vague conjecture, the relative originality and long-term promise of such a hypothesis -which had previously been broached only by maillet, Maupertuis, and Diderot- were of genuine importance to the history of science. Furthermore, inasmuch as the principles of d'Holbach's mechanistic philosophy ruled out any fundamental distinction between living an nonliving aggregates of matter, his biology took basic issue with both the animism and the vitalism current among his contemporaries...This closely knit scheme of theories and hypotheses served not merely to liberate eighteenth-century science from various theological and metaphysical empediments, but it also anticipated several of the major directions in which more than one science was later to evolve. Notwithstanding suchprecursors as Hobbes, La Mttrie, and Diderot, d'Holbach was perhaps the first to argue unequivocally and uncompromisingly that the only philosophical attitude consistent with modern science must be at once naturalistic and antisupernatural."" (D.S.B. VI:469).
