[SPINOZA, BARUCH (later BENEDICTUS DE]

Tractatus theologico-politicus continens dissertationes aliquot, quibus ostenditur libertatem philosophandi non tantum salva pietate, & reipublicae pace posse concedi: sed eandem nisi cum pace reipublicae, ipsaque pietate tolli non posse. Hamburg: Henricus Künraht, 1670. The true first edition, with page 104 misnumbered 304; bound with MELCHIOR, JOHANNES. Epistola Ad Amicum, Continens Censuram. Libri, cui titulus: Tractatus Theologico-Politicus, In quo demonstratur, &c. Ultrajecti (i.e. Utrecht): C. Noenaert, 1671. Two volumes in one, period cream Dutch or German vellum yapped at the fore-edge, laced at the spine, titled in a period hand; all edges sprinkled blue. 7 7/8 x 6 inches (20 x 15.25 cm); *⁴ **²; A-Z⁴ Aa-Ff⁴ Gg², the final blank present; A-F⁴; paginated [xii], 233, [1] pp.; Roman, italic and Hebrew type. Covers a bit finger-soiled, but the binding sound and attractive, internally an excellent copy. 1809 inscription on verso of first added blank, bookplate of Karl Sievking (d. 1847, Syndicus of Hamburg, diplomat, politician, and patron of the arts).

This is the sole treatise of Spinoza's to be published during his lifetime and remains his most important and enduring work. PMM states that this is a ‘crystal-clear exposition of the theory of natural right’ and that ‘Man is moved to the knowledge and love of God; the love of God involves the love of our fellow men. Man, in order to obtain security, surrenders part of his right of independent action to the State. But the State exists to give liberty, not to enslave; justice, wisdom, and toleration are essential to the sovereign power.’ In England, Spinoza was an influence on Blake and on the English Romantics in turn. In Germany, Goethe held to a number of the tenets of Spinoza, a reading of whose work he held to be transformatory, and there is evidence that Spinoza's work was an influence upon Der Ewige Jude.

The second work bound in here is the first of several orchestrated attacks by the Dutch Cartesians on Spinoza and his writing. Melchior was just 24 when this work was published; he later became a professor of theology at Herborn in 1682. This is the probable first edition; a second was issued a few years later.

Four editions of the Tractatus were published with the 1670 date and Künraht imprint but they are misleadingly dated. The second appeared in 1672, and the third and fourth posthumously in 1677. The present is the true first. PMM 153; Van der Linde, p. 172.