Page 24 - Cat Salon Paris 2018

Rare édition originale et deuxième émission du Tractatus de Spinoza.
Précieux exemplaire, parsemé d’annotations manuscrites d’un ancien possesseur érudit
de l’époque, conservé dans son vélin à recouvrement de l’époque.

14. sPinoza. tractatus tHeologico-Politicus.
Hamburgi (Amsterdam), Apud Henricum Kunrath (J. Riewerts), 1670.

In-4 de (6) ff., 233 pp., (1) p. pour l’errata.
Vélin rigide à recouvrement, titre calligraphié au dos. Reliure de l’époque.
200 x 163 mm.

rare édition oriGinale et deuxième émission du Tractatus de sPinoza, « a crystal clear ex-
position of the theory of natural right » (PMM).
Brunet, V, 492 ; Caillet, 10314 ; Bierens de Haan, 4433 ; Graesse, VI, 469 ; Steinschneider, M.
Catalogus hebraeorum in Bibliotheca Bodleiana, 7262 ; PMM, 153.
Exemplaire bien complet du « feuillet d’errata présent seulement dans quelques exemplaires »
(Graesse).
« The Tractatus was printed five times in the seventeenth century. The successive editions were
labeled T.1 to T.5 by Fritz Bamberger. 4 of these were in quarto, T.3 was an octavo volume. The
quarto editions are so similar in appearance that the differences between them went unnoticed
until 1865, when Graesse pointed out their typographical distinctions. I here list some features
that may be helpful in distinguishing the editions. T.1 page 104 is numbered 304; in T.2 page 42
is numbered as 24… Moreover, in T.4 and T.5 the name of the fictitious publisher is spelt “Kun-
rath”, whereas in T;1 and T.2 it appears as “Kunraht”. The Tractatus was highly controversial;
although formally banned only in 1674, it was considered illegal from its publication and there
were attempts to have it repressed from the very start.
So the Amsterdam publisher, Jan Rieuwertsz, had to be careful. He did not reveal his identity on
the title page and when there was a demand for reprints it was important to make the books look
like copies left over from the original 1670 issue »
(Y. Y. Melamed, M. A. Rosenthal, Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise).

Ce livre déchaina une telle tempête que Spinoza renonça jusqu’à sa mort, en 1677, à poursuivre
la publication de ses Œuvres.

« It constituted an extension to political thought of his ethical views. Man is moved to the
knowledge and love of God; the love of God involves the love of our fellow men. Spinoza’s
thought, a fusion of Cartesian rationalism and the Hebraic tradition in which he grew up, is a
solitary but crystal-clear exposition of the theory of natural right. He defends with eloquence
the liberty of thought and speech in speculative matters, and the Tractatus contains the first
clear statement of the independence of each other of philosophy and religion, in that speculation
and precepts of conduct cannot collide » (PMM).