Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime
by BURKE Edmund
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
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About This Item
1757. First Edition . (BURKE, Edmund). A Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful. London: R. and J. Dodsley, 1757. Octavo, contemporary full dark brown calf rebacked with original spine and spine label neatly laid down, raised bands. $5200.First edition of Edmund Burke's influential work on ""themes that dominated Burke's thinking,"" a touchstone in the development of British Romanticism and the theoretical foundation for his celebrated 1790 work, Reflections on the Revolution in France, scarce in contemporary calf.Edmund Burke's Philosophical Enquiry ""might well be said to signalize the point at which aesthetic taste in England changed from the classical formalism of the earlier years of the 18th century to the romanticism of the later years"" (Encyclopedia of Philosophy I, 430). One of the single greatest influences on British Romanticism and the rise of the Gothic, Burke's landmark essay propelled by debates surrounding a 17th-century translation of the classical essay ""On the Sublime."" His analysis of pleasure and fear became the first to carefully explore ""the imaginative power of the unbounded and infinite, and the unstated and unknown"" (Blackburn, 52). The Philosophical Enquiry much ""anticipates the themes that dominate Burke's political thinking throughout his career"" (Yolton I, 144). Influential thinkers such as Mary Wollstonecraft saw that Burke's most celebrated work, Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), ""was largely based on aesthetic positions he developed 30 years earlier in On the Sublime and the Beautiful
Wollstonecraft saw that Burke was appealing in politics to the same kind of refined taste by which he claimed we ultimately perceive the beautiful in art or nature"" (Shiner, The Invention of Art, 163). This first edition, issued anonymously, was ""a rather small edition, possibly like the Vindication limited to 500 copies."" First issue first state with the uncorrected ""SECT. IV"" on page 179, corrected ""SECT. VII"" on page 180: both corrected late in the printing. No priority established as ""most copies exhibit one mixture [of formes] or another"" and none exist in a completely uncorrected state (Todd 5a). Bound with half title. ESTC T42248. Todd 5a. See Lowndes, 316. Engraved armorial bookplate; owner ink signatures, including one on title page.Interior quite clean, light restoration to extremities. A nicely restored copy, desirable in contemporary calf.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Bauman Rare Books (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 123137
- Title
- Philosophical Enquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime
- Author
- BURKE Edmund
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First Edition
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Date Published
- 1757
Terms of Sale
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About the Seller
Bauman Rare Books
Biblio member since 2009
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
About Bauman Rare Books
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Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Raised Band(s)
- Raised bands refer to the ridges that protrude slightly from the spine on leather bound books. The bands are created in the...
- Rebacked
- having had the material covering the spine replaced. ...
- Half Title
- The blank front page which appears just prior to the title page, and typically contains only the title of the book, although, at...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Title Page
- A page at the front of a book which may contain the title of the book, any subtitles, the authors, contributors, editors, the...
- First State
- used in book collecting to refer to a book from the earliest run of a first edition, generally distinguished by a change in some...
- Calf
- Calf or calf hide is a common form of leather binding. Calf binding is naturally a light brown but there are ways to treat the...
- Spine Label
- The paper or leather descriptive tag attached to the spine of the book, most commonly providing the title and author of the...
- Octavo
- Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...