Alexis ou de l'age d'or.

[HEMSTERHUIS, François.]

Verlag: Riga, Johann Friedrich Hartknoch, 1787., 1787

Beschreibung

8vo, pp.188, [4 (blank)], with copper-engraved folding plate; M2 uncancelled (cf.Stoddard); some slight foxing, but a very good copy; uncut in contemporary boards with title inked to spine; boards a little worn, spine defective, sewing loose in places; engraved armorial bookplate of Henry Robertson Sandbach to front pastedown (largely concealed).First edition of Hemsterhuis's philosophical dialogue on a 'golden age', an influential work of pre-Romantic aesthetics. One of his four Platonic dialogues, Alexis is the last and perhaps the most important work of the Franeker philosopher François Hemsterhuis (or Frans, 1721 1790), an acquaintance of Herder, Goethe, and Jacobi, noted for his work on aesthetics and moral philosophy. Although written in 1783 it was not published until 1787, with a German edition appearing in the same year. Perhaps influenced by contemporary German philosophy, Hemsterhuis presents for the first time his concept of the golden age and the harmonious development of the individual. He also introduced the notion of the value of poetical truth (truth discovered by the poet in moments of enthusiasm) … his thought was received with admiration and approval by representatives of the Sturm und Drang and romantic movements in philosophy' (Encyclopedia of Philosophy III, p.474). Alexis opens with a dedication from 'Diocles', i.e.Hemsterhuis, to 'Diotime', i.e.the salonist Amalia Golitsyna, for whom he composed and read his dialogues and who in turn spread his reputation among the German intelligentsia, prompting translations of his works. The text is in the form of a dialogue between Diocles and Alexis, followed by notes (pp.157-188) and an engraved diagram. The printer, the Baltic German Johann Friedrich Hartknoch (1740 1789), is best-known as the publisher of Hemsterhuis's fellow philosopher, Immanuel Kant. Provenance: Henry Robertson Sandbach (1807 1895), husband of the poet and novelist Margaret Sandbach (1812 1852). Library Hub finds only three copies in the UK (BL, CUL, Bristol). See Stoddard, 'A bibliographical list of books by François Hemsterhuis' in The Book Collector 50, no.2 (Summer 2001), pp.189-201, no.11. Language: French. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers H6395

Bibliografische Details

Titel: Alexis ou de l'age d'or.

Verlag: Riga, Johann Friedrich Hartknoch, 1787.

Erscheinungsdatum: 1787

Auflage: First Edition.