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Univers
First Editions

First editions of fundamental treatises: metaphysics, sociology, anthropology, social and economic sciences

652 results
First Editions
  1. De la folie considérée dans ses rapports avec les questions médico-judiciaires
    Charles-Chrétien-Henri MARC

    De la folie considérée dans ses rapports avec les questions médico-judiciaires

    J.B. Baillière|Paris 1840|13.50 x 21.50 cm|2 volumes reliés
    First edition of the first work dealing with forensic medicine applied to the mentally ill.
    Contemporary half-calf bindings in brown glazed calf, smooth spines decorated with central gilt tools as well as quadruple fillets and gilt arabesques at head and tail, marbled paper boards, contemporary bindings.
    Work illustrated with a lithographed portrait of the author as frontispiece to the first volume.
    Some foxing affecting the beginning and end of each volume.
    Rare copy, elegantly bound at the time, of this important work.
    €500
  2. La Jurisprudence des donations entre vifs, suivant l'usage de tous les Parlements sièges du Royaume, soit pays de droit écrit, soit pays coutumiers
    Pierre ROUSSILHE

    La Jurisprudence des donations entre vifs, suivant l'usage de tous les Parlements sièges du Royaume, soit pays de droit écrit, soit pays coutumiers

    Chez Pierre Delaire|Avignon 1771|9.50 x 16 cm|3 volumes reliés
    Rare first edition published in Avignon.
    Contemporary full marbled havana sheep binding. Smooth spines decorated with gilt compartments and floral motifs, red morocco title and volume labels. All edges red.
    Sheep somewhat faded in places. A small hole to each spine of volumes II and III. Note: The half-title page of the first volume has been placed in the third, the publisher having covered the mention of "volume one" with a label in the same typography indicating "volume three".
    €200
  5. Histoire naturelle de la femme, suivie d'un traité d'hygiène
    Jacques-Louis MOREAU

    Histoire naturelle de la femme, suivie d'un traité d'hygiène

    Letellier • Chez L. Duprat|à Paris 1803|12 x 20 cm|3 volumes reliés
    First edition, illustrated with 11 plates, 7 of which are folding (anatomy, hermaphrodite sex, Hottentot...).
    Contemporary full sheep binding with root grain. Smooth spine decorated with compartments à la grotesque. Beige morocco title and volume labels. Cold-tooled roll frame on boards. Upper joint cracked at head of volume I, and lower joint cracked at head and foot. A lack at head of volume III. Rather good copy, fresh.
    Without prejudice for the period, and judging things essentially as a naturalist, observing and comparing facts to his knowledge, this history of woman, not only through history but according to nations (the Hottentots are often studied) is fascinating in more...
    €900
  6. La carte postale de Socrate à Freud et au-delà
    Jacques DERRIDA

    La carte postale de Socrate à Freud et au-delà

    Aubier • Flammarion|Paris 1980|14 x 22 cm|broché
    First edition on ordinary paper.
    Signed autograph inscription from Jacques Derrida to a couple of close friends Jos and Christine (Joliet).Joseph Joliet, a former student of Derrida became a very close friend of the philosopher. Very attentive to Joliet's writing, Derrida would write the preface to his novel: L'enfant au chien assis and support him during difficult periods (cf. Derrida a Biography, by Benoit Peeters).
    Spine slightly creased without gravity, a trace of marginal fold at foot of front cover, complete with its publisher's wraparound band which has small tears.
    €350
  8. Essai de philosophie morale
    Pierre-Louis Moreau de MAUPERTUIS

    Essai de philosophie morale

    S. n.|Berlin 1749|9.50 x 16.50 cm|relié
    First edition, rare. A title vignette by Eisen.
    Contemporary full glazed and marbled calf binding. Smooth spine decorated with grotesque ornaments. Red morocco title label. Headcaps worn. Rubbing to joints and corners.
    The moral philosophy essay is one of the two main philosophical texts (and chronologically the first) by Maupertuis, who, like all scholars of his era, was multidisciplinary. The second work in this field would be the Essay on Cosmology published in 1750. One should not be misled by the classical title given to this treatise; if the Essay is a reflection on good and evil, it is a vision of good and evil that is primarily sensualist, based on the sensible experience...
    €800
  9. Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXème siècle
    Pierre LAROUSSE

    Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXème siècle

    Lib. classique Larousse • et Boyer & Administration du Grand dictionnaire universel|Paris 1866-1878|24 x 31 cm|17 volumes reliés

    First edition.
    Contemporary half light brown speckled sheep over marbled paper boards, spines with triple gilt fillets, black sheep title and volume labels (error to numbering of volumes: the first volume of the supplement, volume 16, is marked 15 by mistake), traces of rubbing and repairs to some spines, a few headpieces rubbed, some with small lacks, a few joints cracked.
    A good set preserving its two volumes of supplements, practically no foxing. 

    €2,000
  10. Des devoirs des hommes
    Silvio PELLICO

    Des devoirs des hommes

    H. Fournier|Paris 1834|13 x 21 cm|relié
    First edition in French.
    Half red sheep binding, smooth spine with minor rubbing decorated with gilt and blind fillets and a central gilt fleuron, marbled paper boards with three marginal stains, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, bookplate pasted to verso of front board.
    Some foxing mainly at beginning and end of volume.
    €100
  11. Les raisons perpétuelles de croire (apologétique d'un incroyant)
    Gonzague TRUC

    Les raisons perpétuelles de croire (apologétique d'un incroyant)

    Editions de la Nouvelle revue critique|Paris 1929|12 x 19 cm|broché
    First edition, one of 100 numbered copies on alfa paper, the only deluxe copies.

    Inscribed by Gonzague Truc.

    Some light foxing mainly at the beginning and end of the volume, otherwise a handsome copy.
    €80
  12. Du suicide
    Achille VILLETTE

    Du suicide

    Imp. de Didot le jeune|Paris 1825|21.50 x 27.50 cm|broché
    First edition of this thesis presented and defended at the Faculty of Medicine in Paris on January 27, 1825.
    Autograph inscription from Achille Villette at head of first cover.
    Rare copy in original wrappers.
    A light dampstain affecting the entire text block, a crease at foot of all leaves.
    Rare.
    €250
  14. Essai sur l'origine des connoissances humaines
    Étienne Bonnot de CONDILLAC

    Essai sur l'origine des connoissances humaines

    Chez Pierre Mortier|à Amsterdam • [Paris] 1746|9.50 x 17 cm|2 tomes reliés en un volume
    First edition.
    Contemporary blonde sheep binding. Spine with raised bands, decorated. Tail rolls. Red morocco title-label. Small lack at head. 3 corners bumped with loss of leather. Light bookworm damage to right margin of first leaves becoming simple wormholes throughout the work. A fairly good copy.
    This first work in which Condillac's thought takes shape draws considerably on the author's intellectual master: Locke. Already, abbé Condillac rejects all spiritual causes and attacks all idealist philosophies (Leibniz, Descartes...), but he is not yet the leader of Sensualism, which he would only affirm much later. His style is already clear, precise and logical, going directly to...
    €1,200
  15. L'ordene de chevalerie, avec une dissertation sur l'origine de la langue françoise. Un essai sur les étimologies. Quelques contes anciens. Et un glossaire pour en faciliter l'intelligence
    Étienne BARBAZAN

    L'ordene de chevalerie, avec une dissertation sur l'origine de la langue françoise. Un essai sur les étimologies. Quelques contes anciens. Et un glossaire pour en faciliter l'intelligence

    Chez Chaubert • Claude Herissant|Lauzanne [Lausanne] • (Lausanne) • & se trouve à Paris 1759|11.50 x 18 cm|relié
    First edition. Uncommon.
    Half glacé calf with corners, 19th century, signed Petit succ de Simier. Raised spine decorated in compartments. Fillets on covers.
    Etienne Barbazan (1694-1770) was a philologist specializing in medieval manuscripts, notably contributing to bringing forgotten texts back to memory and rehabilitating the Middle Ages in the field of research. L'ordene de chevalerie is a 13th-century text on the rules and ceremonies of chivalry, of which Barbazan would have had a manuscript in his hands. The work contains other 13th-century texts and a glossary.
    €300
  17. Amusement philosophique sur le langage des bestes. [Ensemble] Lettre a madame la Comtesse D*** pour servir de supplément à L'amusement philosophique sur le langage des bestes
    Guillaume-Hyacinthe BOUGEANT

    Amusement philosophique sur le langage des bestes. [Ensemble] Lettre a madame la Comtesse D*** pour servir de supplément à L'amusement philosophique sur le langage des bestes

    Imp. Gissey, Bordelet & Ganeau|Paris 1739|10 x 17 cm|2 tomes reliés en un volume
    First edition, rare. The second work, bound with the first and with only a half-title (without lack), is by Aubert de la Chesnaye des Bois.
    Modern cream parchment paper boards binding. Black sheep title-label.
    A satirical work mocking the Cartesians and the question of the soul and reason. Bougeant proposed that animals had recovered the souls of the wicked; this allusion, even ironic, to the transmigration of souls led to exile by the Jesuits. The work had considerable success in Europe, and is above all an attack against Descartes' mechanistic conception.
    €300
  18. De la philosophie de la nature ou traité de morale pour le genre humain tiré de la philosophie et fondé sur la nature. Troisième édition et la seule conforme au manuscrit original
    Jean-Baptiste-Claude DELISLE DE SALES

    De la philosophie de la nature ou traité de morale pour le genre humain tiré de la philosophie et fondé sur la nature. Troisième édition et la seule conforme au manuscrit original[The Philosophy of Nature: Treatise on Human Moral Nature]

    S. n.|à Londreset se trouve dans la plupart des capitales de l'Europe [London] 1777|12.50 x 19.50 cm (In-8)|6 volumes reliés

    New and improved enlarged edition (partly original), illustrated with a frontispiece, 12 unsigned figures, and 6 title vignettes (the title pages are entirely engraved). A fine printing. The original 1770 edition comprised only 3 volumes in-12.
    Contemporary full mottled calf bindings. Smooth spines decorated with floral tools and multiple gilt rolls. Triple gilt fillet framing on covers. Blue sprinkled edges. Slight surface wear to the covers. A few wormholes to the joints, and some worming in the margin of volume I. Despite these minor flaws, a handsome, well-bound and fresh copy.

    €800
  19. Engels sa vie et son oeuvre
    COLLECTIF

    Engels sa vie et son oeuvre

    Editions du progrès|Paris 1987|23 x 29.50 cm|reliure de l'éditeur
    First edition.
    Contributions by N. Ivanov, T. Béliakova and E. Krassavina.
    Publisher's red cardboard binding, dust jacket preserved without any defects.
    Richly illustrated.
    Handsome copy.
    €40
  21. Instruction morale et civique ou philosophie pratique, psychologie, logique, morale pratique, économie politique, morale théorique, instruction civique à l'usage des écoles normales primaires, des lycées et collèges de jeunes filles...
    P. LALOI, François PICAVET

    Instruction morale et civique ou philosophie pratique, psychologie, logique, morale pratique, économie politique, morale théorique, instruction civique à l'usage des écoles normales primaires, des lycées et collèges de jeunes filles...

    Armand Colin & Cie|Paris 1888|12 x 19 cm|relié
    First edition.
    Half dark brown sheep binding, smooth spine showing traces of rubbing decorated with double gilt fillets, lower headcaps rubbed, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers preserved, contemporary binding.
    Occasional light foxing.
    €80
  22. Doctrinae Particularum Linguae Graecae
    Henrico HOOGEVEEN

    Doctrinae Particularum Linguae Graecae[Hoogeveen's Greek Particles]

    Ex typographeo Dammeano|Leyde [Leiden] 1769|23 x 28 cm (In-4)|relié

    First edition. Rare. Engraved title page with printer’s vignette (a beehive and bees). A fine edition, handsomely printed on quality laid paper. The copy is authenticated by the author’s original signature.
    The copy bears a preliminary page preceding the half-title for a prize, repeating the same motto found on the binding. The book appears to have been presented by the University or School of Harlem to Bernardo Van Laar in 1799 as a first prize in letters, and seems signed by several professors.
    Contemporary full mottled calf binding. Emblematic binding (Athena – or Virtue? – with her attributes reading a book beneath a tree, on her shield: a sword surmounted by the Maltese cross...

    €900
  24. La correspondance de Hegel
    [Victor CHERBULIEZ] G VALBERT

    La correspondance de Hegel

    Extrait de la Revue des deux mondes|(Paris) 1887|15.50 x 25 cm|agrafé
    First edition.
    Plain paper cover.
    Rare.
    €40
  29. Curiosités philologiques, géographiques et ethnologiques
    Léon de WAILLY

    Curiosités philologiques, géographiques et ethnologiques

    Paulin & Le Chevalier|Paris 1855|9.50 x 16.50 cm|relié
    First edition.
    Half-shagreen binding in purple, spine with four raised bands decorated with fleurons, double fillets and gilt dots. Some foxing, otherwise handsome copy.
    €60
  30. Libre philosophie
    Ernest BERSOT

    Libre philosophie

    G. Baillière|Paris 1868|11.50 x 18 cm|relié
    First edition.
    Bradel binding in half bottle-green morocco, smooth spine, date at foot, binding signed by Howland.
    Fine bookplate of Ludovic Halévy engraved by Stern pasted on the verso of the front cover.
    Annotations by L. Halévy in pencil.
    €100
  31. Theatrum funebre, exhibens per varias scenas epitaphia nova, antiqua, seria, jocosa, aevo, ordine, dignitate, genere, sexu, fortunâ, ingenio, adeò & stylo perquàm varia, cum summorum pontificum, imperatum, et regum galliae, succincta chronologia, eorumque symbolis ac apitaphis
    Otto AICHER

    Theatrum funebre, exhibens per varias scenas epitaphia nova, antiqua, seria, jocosa, aevo, ordine, dignitate, genere, sexu, fortunâ, ingenio, adeò & stylo perquàm varia, cum summorum pontificum, imperatum, et regum galliae, succincta chronologia, eorumque symbolis ac apitaphis

    sumpt & typis Joannis Baptistae Mayr|Salisburgi [Salzburg] • (Salzbourg) [Salzburg] 1673|19.80 x 15.50 cm|deux parties en un volume relié
    First edition. Rare. One copy at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and one at Bristol in England, another in the catalogues of West Germany. A second edition appeared in 1675 with 2 new parts. 2 very handsome frontispieces
    Later full vellum binding. 20th-century black title-label and endpapers. Light worming on the first 2 pages and the last 5. Scattered foxing.
    Otto Aicher (1628-1705), Benedictine and professor, was an Austrian playwright, professor of rhetoric and grammarian, but also a historian. In this book he gathers epitaphs from all periods, notably of Roman emperors and kings, the whole constituting a theatre of death as epitaphs are like voices from beyond the grave...
    €750
  32. La philosophie de Voltaire
    (VOLTAIRE) Ernest BERSOT

    La philosophie de Voltaire

    Ladrange|Paris 1848|11.50 x 18.50 cm|relié
    First edition.
    Half chocolate shagreen binding, spine in four compartments with gilt panel, blind panels and gilt stippling, minor scuffs at head and foot of spine.
    Handsome copy.
    €60
  34. Manuel de la pureté du langage ou recueil alphabétique du corrigé des barbarismes, des néologismes, des locutions vicieuses et des expressions impropres employées journellement à la Tri
    J.N. BLONDIN

    Manuel de la pureté du langage ou recueil alphabétique du corrigé des barbarismes, des néologismes, des locutions vicieuses et des expressions impropres employées journellement à la Tri

    Chez l'auteur • Pelicier • A. Eymery • Brianchon • Martinet • Maze|Paris 1823|13 x 21 cm|relié
    First edition.
    Full dark green cardboard binding, spine lacking.
    Signed by the author on the justification page.
    Following, there is the Treatise on prosody, and on the translation of Latin and Italian locutions used in language, in newspapers and in music.
    Foxing.
    Rare.
    €250
  35. Les maladies de la volonté
    Théodule RIBOT

    Les maladies de la volonté

    G. Baillière & Cie|Paris 1883|12 x 19 cm|broché
    First edition.
    Small tears at foot of spine, foxing, slight marginal lacks to second cover.
    Rare.
    €55
  36. Opuscule ou essai tendant à rectifier des préjugés nuisibles et à former des vertueux éclairés. Par un ami du genre humain
    POOPDS

    Opuscule ou essai tendant à rectifier des préjugés nuisibles et à former des vertueux éclairés. Par un ami du genre humain

    Chez David Fowler (de l'imprimerie de J. Cooper)|à Londres [London] 1791|16.30 x 10.50 cm|relié

    First edition, the only one published.
    Bound in red half long-grain morocco in the Romantic style, flat spine with two vertical Romantic tools. Two small wormholes along the upper joint. Minor rubbing as usual, but a handsome copy, notably well-preserved.


    NB: This item is available at the bookshop on request within 48 hours.

    €650
  37. Curiosités de l'économie politique
    Louis LOUVET

    Curiosités de l'économie politique

    A. Delahays|Paris 1861|10 x 16.50 cm|relié
    First edition.
    Half red shagreen binding, spine with four raised bands decorated with blind fillets, light rubbing to edges.
    Some light foxing, otherwise handsome interior condition.
    €60
  38. Arrest de la cour du parlement, portant defenses à toutes personnes de quelque qualité & condition qu'elles soient, de donner à jouer, ou de jouer mesme aux foires, aux jeux de hazard, & notamment aux dez & aux jeux appellez le Hoca, la Bassette, le Pharaon, le Lansquenet, la Dupe & le Biriby, sous quelques noms ou formes qu'ils puissent être déguisez. Du 21 mars 1722

    Arrest de la cour du parlement, portant defenses à toutes personnes de quelque qualité & condition qu'elles soient, de donner à jouer, ou de jouer mesme aux foires, aux jeux de hazard, & notamment aux dez & aux jeux appellez le Hoca, la Bassette, le Pharaon, le Lansquenet, la Dupe & le Biriby, sous quelques noms ou formes qu'ils puissent être déguisez. Du 21 mars 1722

    Chez Louis Denis Delatour • Pierre Simon|à Paris 1722|23.50 x 17 cm|Un Vol. broché
    First edition.
    In original wrappers. Covered with nineteenth-century blue paper for reuse.
    An edict that was printed in the final year of the regency of the Duke of Orléans, Louis XV would be crowned king in October of the same year, and which ratifies the previous ordinances regarding gaming. While the prohibition mainly targeted persons of rank, it now affects all subjects of the realm.
    €450
  44. Lexicon hebraicum
    Antonio ZANOLINI

    Lexicon hebraicum

    Typis seminari • Apud Joannem Manfrè|Patavii [Padua] • (Padoue) [Padua] 1732|24 x 18 cm (In-4)|relié

    First edition.
    Contemporary full vellum binding. Raised bands to spine. Hebrew title handwritten in ink. Two small wormholes at foot. Two defects with loss to the band of the third compartment and to the upper joint of the fourth compartment.
    Hebrew-Latin dictionary compiled by Zanolini, professor of Oriental languages at the seminary of Padua.

    €800
  51. Clavis et fundamenta graeca linguae
    Eilhard LUBIN

    Clavis et fundamenta graeca linguae

    Lodovico Elzevirium (Elzevir).|Amstelodami [Amsterdam] • (Amsterdam) 1651|13.50 x 8.50 cm|relié
    First edition. Illustrated with a frontispiece.
    Full vellum binding with overlapping edges. Smooth spine with handwritten title. Endpapers renewed.
    Important Greek-Latin dictionary. The German humanist E. Lubin (1565-1621) taught poetics at the University of Rostock from 1595 to 1605 before becoming professor of theology. Fine Elzevier edition in small type. Between 1620 and 1680, Elzevier production experienced a golden age of typography. The origin of small formats and small type (a technical feat at the time) lay in cost considerations, as printing was then in crisis.
    €380
  86. Discours préliminaire au nouveau dictionnaire de la langue française
    Antoine de RIVAROL

    Discours préliminaire au nouveau dictionnaire de la langue française

    Chez Cocheris|à Paris 1797|18.50 x 24 cm|relié
    First edition. Two editions appeared at the same time, this one, and a second in Hamburg, published by Fauche. See Tchemerzine V, 409. The continuation of this preliminary discourse, as well as the famous dictionary, would never see the light of day. The second text appeared for the first time in Berlin in 1784, closely following the "subject proposed by the Berlin Academy".
    Tchemerzine V, 403: 'Cette édition, très bien imprimée, est aussi recherchée que l'originale'.
    Half black shagreen Jansenist binding from the mid-19th century. Spine with 4 raised bands.
    The preliminary discourse is an ambitious work, simultaneously a reflection on phonetics, a linguistic reflection, and a...
    €1,000
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