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GENERAL AND CONTINENTAL BOOKS, MANUSCRIPTS AND PHOTOGRAPHS
Lot 89

[DIDEROT (DENIS)]
Principes de la philosophie morale FIRST EDITION, AUTHOR'S PRESENTATION COPY, Amsterdam [i.e. Paris?], Zacharie Châtelain, 1745

19 August 2020, 13:00 BST
London, Knightsbridge

£20,000 - £30,000

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[DIDEROT (DENIS)]

Principes de la philosophie morale ou essai de M. S[haftesbury] sur le mérite de la vertu. Avec réflexions, 2 parts in 1 vol., FIRST EDITION, AUTHOR'S PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED "Pour Monsieur Dufaur [or Dufaux], de la part de son très humble et très obéiss[an]t s[erviteu]r, Diderot" inside upper wrapper, 2 etched plates, title vignette, and 2 divisional headpieces by Fessard after Durand, untrimmed in contemporary marbled wrappers, skillfully rebacked to match, morocco-backed solander box by Loutrel, 12mo, Amsterdam [but Paris], Zacharie Châtelain, 1745

Footnotes

BOOKS INSCRIBED BY DIDEROT ARE ALMOST UNOBTAINABLE. The 1963 Diderot exhibition at the Bibliothèque nationale did not feature a single presentation copy, and auction records list only one inscribed book, again a copy of the Principes, which was presented to Mme. de Sainte Croix (Christie's, 3 December 1986, lot 177, £3,200). A third copy of this work is known to have been inscribed to Rousseau.

The Principes contains the first original work published by the still anonymous author, following several translations. In some ways it continues his work as a translator, as it contains an adaptation of the Earl of Shaftesbury's 'An Inquiry concerning Virtue and Merit' (from volume 3 of Characteristicks Of Men Manners, Opinions, Times, 1711), but to it Diderot added his own "reflections". The Journal de Trévoux captured the spirit of the book when it described it as a "discourse on morality as if written by Mr. Locke".

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