About this Item
[38], 201, 200-201pp, [5]. Without initial blank (A1), but with two terminal advertisement leaves. Contemporary blind panelled calf, rebacked, with gilt tooling and remains of a morocco lettering-piece to spine. Worn and rubbed; with surface loss to joints and corners, chipping to head and foot of spine, and lettering-piece, upper board detached. Later endpapers, with pencilled notes regarding the text, some browning and spotting to text, marginal loss to title (A2), small chip and tearing (the latter touching text but without loss) to A3, now illegible inscriptions to. head of title and foot of final leaf. Anthony Collins' copy, with his typical 'Anth. Collins' inscription to recto of blank fly-leaf preceding title, and his shelf-mark 'R.d.17.' to verso. A near-contemporary philosopher's copy of Cambridge-educated ejected-divine and physician Nathaniel Fairfax's (1637-1690) curious and wide-ranging metaphysical exploration of the 'knowledge of Bodies', time and space, and God's significance in these. Composed whilst Fairfax practised physic at Woodbridge, Suffolk, it was his sole separately published work in the English market (his Doctoral thesis De Lumbricis was published in Leyden, 1670). Arranged in seven chapters, the work demonstrates the author's rejection of absolutism, and study of, inter alia, works byHenry More, Thomas Hobbes, Samuel Parker (who's Tentamina physico-theologica de Deo this is part a reply to), and Isaac Newton. Indeed the latter is referenced in glowing terms in his discussion of colour on p.41, ('A world of men have seen colours since the beginning, but, for ought we know no man could ever yet tell another what they were, till to the brightening of our Island, our happy wonder of ingenuity, and best broacher of new light, Mr. Isa. Newton, hit upon the thing that 'tis indeed: and now we do know (which no man would ever have ghessed before,) that white is a medley mingling of beams differently breaking or refrangible'). In spite of this, Fairfax is almost intentionally anti-intellectual in style, confessing in his dedication to Sir William Blois to preferring to 'be a Well-willer to a Brick-layer, than a Philosopher taking name from Aristotles Physicks', and considering 'houses on the earth' more useful than 'capering Castles in the Air'. Similarly, the 16 page address 'To the Reader' largely consists of what seems to be a damning indictment of contemporary English philosophical writers publishing in Latin; work which Fairfax deems 'Learnings.lockt upon in the Tongues of the Schools'. It is for this exploration of Restoration prose style that Fairfax's work is now perhaps most remembered. The early owner of this work - Anthony Collins (1676-1729), philosopher, free- thinker, friend and intellectual successor to Locke, by whom he was treated like a son - had an unsurprisingly diverse library which he recorded in manuscript. The recent transcription by Giovanni Tarantino (Milan, 2007) records that this volume (p.227) was kept at shelf-mark 'R.d.17', matching the inscription featuring in this volume. ESTC R6759. Wing R6759. Size: 8vo. Seller Inventory # AQ28721
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