[Rarebooks] fa: WILLIAM PALEY - PRINCIPALS OF MORAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY - First Ed. 1785

[ArCh]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, March 7. Images and more details can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la. 

https://tinyurl.com/y7vp8rhy

Thanks again,
Ardwight Chamberlain
Ann Arbor, MI, USA


William Paley: The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy. London: Printed for R. Faulder, New Bond Street, MDCCLXXXV [1785]. FIRST EDITION; large 4to (27.5 cm) in early/period polished calf, sensitively rebacked, gilt-lettered morocco spine label, marbled endpapers; [2] (bound without the half-title page), vii, [1], xxi, [1], vi, 657, [1] pp.; ESTC T60070. Binding with some bumping and wear to the edges and corners, scuffing to the boards; front board detached; contents with mild toning and offsetting, a few occasional light spots, otherwise very clean and fresh.

First edition of this important work by the English clergyman, philosopher, theologian, abolitionist and utilitarian William Paley (1743-1805). The book went through fifteen editions during Paley's lifetime, was adopted as part of the University of Cambridge's curriculum, and remained hugely influential well into the nineteenth century. Charles Darwin, studying Paley's Principles for his B.A. examination, wrote: "The logic of this book...gave me as much delight as did Euclid. The careful study of [Paley's] works... was the only part of the Academical Course which, as I then felt and as I still believe, was of the least use to me in the education of my mind." As late as 1933, John Maynard Keynes hailed Haley's Principles as "an immortal book."