BLOUNT, [CHARLES]
The oracles of reason: consisting of 1. A vindication of Dr. Burnet's Archiologae. 2. The seventh and eighth chapters of the same. 3. Of Moses's description of the original state of man, &c. 4. Dr. Burnet's appendix of the Brachmins religion. 5. An account of the Deist's religion. 6. Of the immortality of the soul. 7. Concerning the Arrians, Trinitarians and councils. 8. That felicity consists in pleasure. 9. Of fate and fortune. 10. Of the original of the Jews. 11. The lawfulness of marrying two sisters successively. 12. A political account of the subversion of Jewdaism, and original of the millenium. 13. Of the auguries of the ancients. 14. Natural religion as oppos'd to divine revelation. 15. That the soul is matter. 16. That the world is eternal, &c. In several letters to Mr. Hobbs and other persons of eminent quality, and learning. By Char. Blount Esq; Mr. Gildon and others. London: [s.n], 1693. First edition. Contemporary mottled calf, spine edge with a roll in blind. 6 3/8 x 3 5/8 inches (16 x 9 cm); [24], 226 pp., collating A-F ^(2)F H-I^(12) K^(6). Spine worn, holding on cords, text toned and spotted, a few old ink notations and corrections.
This issue appears to be Wing B3312, R15706 with a slight modification of pagination (the page order at p. 119-120 correct). This little work by the deist and philosopher Blount was written the year of his unfortunate death (according to Alexander Pope, perhaps not the most reliable of sources, he stabbed himself in the arm in a mock-suicide attempt, but actually died). The essays are eccentric and intriguing. He denies the possibility of revelation and of miracles, but suggests that there might be many worlds with life on them. Also of interest is his curious essay An Appendix concerning modern Brachmins in the Indies. The last copy we note at auction was at Sotheby's in 1967.