Sold by Athena Rare Books ABAA, Fairfield, CT, U.S.A.
Association Member:
AbeBooks Seller since January 24, 2003
Seller rating 2 out of 5 stars
Half-title + TP + Dedication Page + 1 leaf = Advertisement + [ix]-xii = Contents + [1]-566 (misnumbered for 569) + [570] = errata, Quarto (9" x 11¾"). First Edition, Presentation Copy.A presentation copy with the front free endpaper beautifully inscribed "From the Author". ON the inside front cover is the contemporary signature "Benjamin Vaughan". NOTE: This presentation inscription is likely by the author himself although comparisons with the writing in two other rather dissimilar presentation inscriptions sold over the years (by Pickering & Chatto in 2009 and Quaritch in 2012), both alleged to be in the author's hand do not provide conclusive evidence that this inscription was actually written by Dugald Stewart. (Copies of those two other inscriptions available upon request.)The recipient of this copy was Benjamin Vaughan (1751-1835), the Anglo-American diplomat and political economist, who probably met Stewart while studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh, where Stewart was professor of moral philosophy. Vaughan was born in Jamaica, and later in life retired in Hallowell, Maine, but his education and professional years were spent in England, where he became friends with Benjamin Franklin and influenced British relations with the United States. As a follower of Lord Shelburne's party, he was acquainted with all the British supporters of the American colonists -- Paine, Priestly and Tooke -- and in the year he received the present volume, he became a member of Parliament. His political career was abruptly halted in 1794 by his flight to France in consequence of an investigation by the Cabinet of the activities of American Independence enthusiasts in England. He arrived in Paris to find the Terror in full force and himself in even greater danger than he would have been had he remained in England, and he escaped to Geneva. Vaughan was thus closely involved with both of the great revolutions of his day. (Edna Vosper, writing in the D.A.B.) Stewart was the philosopher "with whom the Scottish philosophy of common sense acquired the dignity of an institution" (EP, VIII, p. 16). This, his main philosophical exposition, was also his first work and, despite the addition of two further volumes in 1814 and 1827, it remained his most important philosophical contribution. Stewart succeeded Ferguson to the chair of moral philosophy in Edinburgh in 1785 and followed in the footsteps of his teacher Thomas Reid who had espoused "the philosophy of common sense". "Stewart saw himself as following Reid in a Baconian reformation of the philosophy of mind. Natural philosophy became science, he held, when inquiry, freed from metaphysical conjecture, was directed toward discovering by observation and experiment the laws governing the connection of physical phenomena" (EP, VIII, p. 16). Stewart's pupils included James Mill (father of John Stuart) and he influenced both of the Mills (who attacked the Scottish school of common sense) and William James whose preface to The Varieties of Religious Experience explicitly credits Stewart's philosophy as an important influence on his own. Original boards, worn and flaking just a bit spots. Professionally rebacked in an appropriate tan format and a newly printed label. An absolutely beautiful uncut and wide-margined copy. In a blue cloth clamshell box with gilt red morocco label. A lovely presentation copy. ADDITIONAL PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.
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