Rare books from Respublica Books LLC

Chicago: Intercollegiate Society of Individualists, University of Chicago, 1961. Magazine. Stapled wraps, 6.75 x 10 inches. Fine.. Fine original first issue of the New Individualist Review magazine published in April 1961 to advance free, private enterprise, limited government, and human liberty. The New Individualist Review was the brainchild of several prominent political and economic scholars associated with the University of Chicago as well as the Intercollegiate Society of Individualists (ISI), founded in 1953 by journalist Frank Chodorov to promote conservatism and individualism on college campuses, and the Mont Pelerin Society, founded in 1947 by F. A. Hayek to promote classical liberalism following the publication of his The Road to Serfdom in 1944. The magazine was founded to advance the ideals of free, private enterprise, limited government, and individual human freedom. The University of Chicago was uniquely situated in the early 1960s to launch the magazine because it was home to the… Read More

Workers Party of the U.S., Pioneer Publishers, and Socialist Workers Party, 1938. War and the Workers: Workers Party of the U.S., 1935. Wrappers, 5 x 7.5 inches, 47 pp. Near-fine. Why Did They "Confess"? A Study of the Radek-Piatakov Trial: New York: Pioneer Publishers, 1937. Wrappers, 5.25 x 7.25 inches, 31 pp. Some rubbing and spotting to wrappers. Very good. The People's Front: The New Betrayal: New York: Pioneer Publishers, 1937. Wrappers, 5 x 7.5 inches, 64 pp. Toning to wrappers, very good. How to Fight War: Isolation? Collective Security? Relentless Cass Struggle?: New York: Socialist Workers Party and Young Peoples Socialist League (4th Internationalists), 1938. Wrappers, 5 x 8 inches, 15 pp. Very good. Let the People Vote on War!: New York: Pioneer Publishers, ca. 1938. Wrappers, 5.25 x 8.5 inches, 14 pp. Previous owner's stamp to verso of front wrap, very good. Five pamphlets by James Burnham (1905-1987) published during his Trotskyist years. Prior to Burnham's participation in the… Read More

London: Printed for Henry Sampson Woodfall in Pater Noster Row, 1773. Small octavo. Two volumes. Leather bound in full period calf unlettered with gilt fillets. Rubbing to corners and minor spotting and toning throughout, else near-fine.. A superb copy of the collected edition of the Junius Letters. Originally published in the London Public Advertiser from January 21, 1769 to January 21, 1772 under the pseudonym "Junius," the so-called "Junius Letters" were polemical letters directed to, and highly critical of, the government of King George III. In the letters, Junius poured brilliant and slanderous invective upon Tory-minded English ministers on account of various public policies that allegedly ruined England and drove the American colonies toward rebellion. The letters were widely regarded as polemical masterpieces by English and American observers, and they were widely reprinted in English and colonial newspapers, lending moral support to the early revolutionary cause in America. Among other… Read More

London: Secker & Warburg, 1949. First edition, first printing with "First published 1949" on copyright page. Octavo. First edition rebound in modern red morocco with skull buttons and "Winston Smith" lettered in white to left breast with on-laid fake eye to chest with blind-stamped lines; title and name lettered in white on spine; front and rear free endpapers and pastedowns replaced with collage of Orwell's eyes, including a secret "trapdoor" on front pastedown disclosing a picture of the Queen of England; minor toning to certain leaves, including title page (as pictured). Brilliant first edition in remarkable custom binding.. First edition of George Orwell's (1903-1950) classic dystopian novel that has captured the imagination and fears of readers, critics, and social observers ever since its publication in 1949. Orwell's ninth and final book, written and published in the closing years of his life, Nineteen Eighty-Four provides a gripping and prophetic meditation on the twentieth century's… Read More

Rare books, documents, correspondence, and ephemera, 1964. Chambers, Whittaker: Witness: New York: Random House, 1952. First edition, first printing. Octavo. Original black boards and red top-stain and original dust jacket (not price-clipped). Faint toning to endpapers and spotting and dusting to page block; minor rubbing and edgewear to dust jacket, else near-fine. A bright and exceptional first printing of this notoriously brittle classic. Chambers, Whittaker: Cold Friday: New York: Random House, 1964. First edition, first printing. Octavo. Original blue cloth with gold titling to spine and green top-stain and original dust jacket (not price-clipped). Small abrasion to front free endpaper and minor rubbing and edgewear to dust jacket with small closed tear to top hinge, else near-fine, which is uncommon for this increasingly hard to find book. Chambers, Whittaker: Can You Hear Their Voices? A Short Story: New York: International Pamphlets, 1932. First edition. Stapled pamphlet. 5 x 7 inches, 31… Read More

London: Printed, and are to be sold by the Booksellers of London and Westminster, 1698. First edition. Folio (310 x 200 mm). Modern brown quarter calf, red morocco spine label and raised bands, with marbled boards, edges sprinkled red. Comes in a blue, flat-back cloth box. Ownership signature of "Adam Brown, 1797," and shelf mark to title page, several annotations and ink marks to contents, including sig. 302 verso. Contents occasionally spotted with small nick to top edge of S4 and short closed tear to lower edge of 2V2, else a very bright and clean copy housed in a nice custom box.. First edition of this major work of republican theory by English politician and republican theorist Algernon Sidney (1623-1683). Sidney wrote his Discourses Concerning Government between 1681 and 1683, and it originally circulated in manuscript form as a polemical refutation of Sir Robert Filmer's Patriarcha (1680), which defended the divine right of kings under absolute monarchy. Sidney opposed absolute monarchy as a… Read More

New York: Basic Books, Inc, 1978. First edition. Octavo. Publisher's cloth in original dust jacket (not price-clipped); minor toning to dust jacket, with a small closed tear to rear top edge; faint bookseller price erasures. Ink inscription by Kristol on front free endpaper: "For Bill and Helene Safire, With love, Irving Kristol." Near-fine in near-fine dust jacket. Single-page letter, signed by Kristol, with mild toning to edges and neat fold across the middle, else fine.. Signed first edition of Irving Kristol's (1920-2009) insightful appraisal of capitalism's impact on American society. Kristol was a journalist, editor, and political commentator who is often considered a founding father of American neoconservatism, and is counted among the most consequential public intellectuals of the late twentieth century. Throughout his career Kristol edited for, contributed to, and founded several journalistic and scholarly publications. He wrote for Commentary magazine from 1947 to 1952, and from 1953 to… Read More

London: Longmans, Green & Co, 1958. Revised edition. Octavo. Original cloth boards and dust jacket (not price-clipped). Foxing and toning to endpapers and pastedowns; foxing, spotting, and rubbing to dust jacket with edgewear, particularly at jacket folds and along head and foot; sunning to spine; small ink inscription to front pastedown; general wear to dust jacket. Signed by Bernard Lonergan on the front free endpaper with message: "Bernard Lonergan S.J. / The fundamental principle is [...] conversion / eg. P. xxii, f. 'The hard fact is...'" Very good in good-plus dust jacket. Scarce with Lonergan's signature and personal annotation.. Bernard Lonergan's (1904-1984) masterpiece, Insight: A Study of Human Understanding, with Lonergan's rare personal signature and inscription to front free endpaper. Lonergan's Insight was born out of the success of a 1945 lecture that he gave at the Thomas More Institute in Montreal entitled "Thought and Reality." In the following years he wrote Insight in order to… Read More

Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1995. First edition. Octavo. Original cloth and dust jacket (not price-clipped). Signed by Russell Kirk's wife, Annette Kirk, on front free endpaper: "With best wishes! / Annette Y. Kirk / August 1997." Fine in fine dust jacket.. A fine copy of Russell Kirk's (1918-1994) memoirs, signed by his wife, Annette Kirk, to whom he dedicated the book. Widely celebrated as a founding father of modern intellectual conservatism, Russell Kirk-the Sage of Mecosta-set out in The Sword of Imagination to describe his participation in the intellectual, social, philosophical, and political contests of the twentieth century. Kirk wrote the book in the third person in order to tell the story of a young boy coming of age in the railroad yards outside of Detroit and maturing into one of the most influential political minds of his generation. Perhaps best remembered for his movement-defining book The Conservative Mind (1953), throughout his life Kirk wielded… Read More

Worcester: Printed by Isaiah Thomas, Jun. sold by him and by Mathew Carey, Philadelphia; also by the various Booksellers throughout the United States, 1802. First US edition. Two volumes. Modern calf-backed marbled boards. Some browning of text, generally light. Contemporary signature of "Jos. Allen" on titles. Enclosed in an open-end cloth case.. The first American edition of Montesquieu's (1689-1755) classic work of political theory that helped form the American Constitution. Montesquieu first published The Spirit of Laws in 1748 in his native France (as De l'esprit des loix) anonymously, in part because his works were subject to censorship. The book became recognized for its pioneering work on political theory and comparative law, and was rapidly translated into other languages and published throughout Europe. Thomas Nugent, the influential Irish historian and travel writer, published the first English translation in 1750, but in 1751 the Roman Catholic Church placed the work on its Index… Read More

New York: John T. Flynn, 1945. Second edition, revised; a follow-up to his privately-printed pamphlet The Truth About Pearl Harbor (1944). Pamphlet. Stapled newsprint, 6 x 9 inches, 15 pp. An uncommon privately printed pamphlet. Browning and offsetting to newsprint wrappers with chipping to corners, else very good.. A privately printed pamphlet published by John T. Flynn (1882-1964) as a follow-up to his 1944 pamphlet The Truth About Pearl Harbor. Flynn, an anti-war journalist and staunch critic of President Roosevelt, was among the first to publicly question the events surrounding the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941. In September 1944, Flynn privately printed a pamphlet, The Truth About Pearl Harbor, in which he argued that President Roosevelt's administration had advanced knowledge regarding a possible Japanese attack on the US. Flynn's The Truth About Pearl Harbor was also published in the Chicago Tribune in October 1944 and spurred other journalists to critically evaluate the events… Read More

New York: Random House, 1957. First edition, first printing. Octavo. Original green cloth over boards with gilt titling and dust jacket (not price-clipped) with $6.95 price and 10/57 on front inside flap and publisher's full address to rear inside flap. Superb first printing in a bright dust jacket, minor edgewear to dust jacket at spine and folds, with slight chipping to head of spine, and small abrasions to front and spine of dust jacket, else fine in a very good dust jacket.. Exceptional first edition of Ayn Rand's (1905-1982) magnum opus and libertarian classic. Reportedly born from a conversation between Rand and fellow libertarian novelist, Isabel Paterson, Atlas Shrugged explores the morality of self-interest by depicting the consequences of a general strike by creative professionals who henceforth refuse to share with the world their art, innovations, and ideas. Set in a dystopic future America, Atlas Shrugged combines science fiction, mystery, philosophy, and romance to investigate several… Read More

Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1965. First edition. Octavo. Original green cloth, with gold titling to spine, and dust jacket (not price-clipped). Minor edgewear with spotting and dusting to page block; prior owner name and date to front free endpaper; faint toning and spotting to dust jacket with minor edgewear, particularly at lower hinges.. A collection of fourteen influential pamphlets of the American Revolution assembled and edited by Bernard Bailyn (1905-1987). Originally conceived as the first volume in a four-volume series (assembling seventy-two pamphlets in all) to be published by the Belknap Press of Harvard University as part of the John Harvard Library Series, this would be the only volume of the series ever published. The pamphlets included in this first and only volume include Richard Bland's The Colonel Dismounted (1764), James Otis's The Rights of the British Colonies (1764), and Daniel Dulany's Considerations on the Propriety of Imposing… Read More

Boston: Printed at the Repertory Office, 1804. Pamphlet. Wraps, 9 x 6 inches, 15 pp. Contemporary, likely original, plain blue wrappers, sewn, untrimmed; text slightly browned with foxing throughout and some contemporary marginalia. Short inscription on head of front wrapper.. An uncommon first edition of A Sketch of the Character of Alexander Hamilton, attributed to the influential Massachusetts Federalist and famed orator Fisher Ames, in contemporary (and likely the original) plain blue wrappers, untrimmed and bound with original thread binding. Ames was widely recognized for his oratorical skills and fervent opposition to Jeffersonian democracy. Prior to the election of 1800, Ames urged Hamilton to align with the Federalists and nominate Aaron Burr for President over Thomas Jefferson. Despite Ames's pleas, Hamilton broke with the Federalists and supported Jefferson, which ultimately resulted in Jefferson's victory amidst the contentious Electoral College tie. After Hamilton's death in 1804… Read More

Five rare books and associated ephemera (all published in French) from the private library of Maurice de Gandillac, 1930-1966. Maritain, Jacques: Éléments de Philosophie (I): Introduction Générale a la Philosophie, Paris: Pierre Téqui, Libraire-Éditeur, 1930. Reprint of the original 1920 edition. Original wrappers. Minor smudging and toning to wrappers and slight creasing to corners and faint staining to spine; minor toning to leaves. Portions uncut. Very good. Signed and inscribed by Jacques Maritain to Maurice de Gandillac on half-title page: "To Maurice de Gandillac / With affection / Jacques Maritain." Volume 1. Maritain, Jacques: De la Philosophie Chrétienne, Paris: Desclée de Brouwer, 1933. First edition. Original wrappers. Small red ink spot to foot of front wrapper; minor toning to leaves. Very good. Signed and inscribed by Jacques Maritain to Maurice de Gandillac on the front free endpaper: "To Maurice de Gandillac / Very affectionately / Jacques Maritain." Maritain, Jacques: Science… Read More