Rare books from Respublica Books LLC

London: Printed for Henry Sampson Woodfall in Pater Noster Row, 1773. Small octavo. Two volumes. Leather bound in full period calf unlettered with gilt fillets. Rubbing to corners and minor spotting and toning throughout, else near-fine.. A superb copy of the collected edition of the Junius Letters. Originally published in the London Public Advertiser from January 21, 1769 to January 21, 1772 under the pseudonym "Junius," the so-called "Junius Letters" were polemical letters directed to, and highly critical of, the government of King George III. In the letters, Junius poured brilliant and slanderous invective upon Tory-minded English ministers on account of various public policies that allegedly ruined England and drove the American colonies toward rebellion. The letters were widely regarded as polemical masterpieces by English and American observers, and they were widely reprinted in English and colonial newspapers, lending moral support to the early revolutionary cause in America. Among other… Read More

London: Secker & Warburg, 1949. First edition, first printing with "First published 1949" on copyright page. Octavo. First edition rebound in modern red morocco with skull buttons and "Winston Smith" lettered in white to left breast with on-laid fake eye to chest with blind-stamped lines; title and name lettered in white on spine; front and rear free endpapers and pastedowns replaced with collage of Orwell's eyes, including a secret "trapdoor" on front pastedown disclosing a picture of the Queen of England; minor toning to certain leaves, including title page (as pictured). Brilliant first edition in remarkable custom binding.. First edition of George Orwell's (1903-1950) classic dystopian novel that has captured the imagination and fears of readers, critics, and social observers ever since its publication in 1949. Orwell's ninth and final book, written and published in the closing years of his life, Nineteen Eighty-Four provides a gripping and prophetic meditation on the twentieth century's… Read More

Rare books, documents, correspondence, and ephemera, 1964. Chambers, Whittaker: Witness: New York: Random House, 1952. First edition, first printing. Octavo. Original black boards and red top-stain and original dust jacket (not price-clipped). Faint toning to endpapers and spotting and dusting to page block; minor rubbing and edgewear to dust jacket, else near-fine. A bright and exceptional first printing of this notoriously brittle classic. Chambers, Whittaker: Cold Friday: New York: Random House, 1964. First edition, first printing. Octavo. Original blue cloth with gold titling to spine and green top-stain and original dust jacket (not price-clipped). Small abrasion to front free endpaper and minor rubbing and edgewear to dust jacket with small closed tear to top hinge, else near-fine, which is uncommon for this increasingly hard to find book. Chambers, Whittaker: Can You Hear Their Voices? A Short Story: New York: International Pamphlets, 1932. First edition. Stapled pamphlet. 5 x 7 inches, 31… Read More

Churchtown, Dundrum: Cuala Press, 1920. First edition, first printing. One of only 400 printed. Octavo. Original blue paper boards with buff linen spine. All edges untrimmed. In the original plain tan dust jacket, preserved in glassine wrap, with chipping to dust jacket (particularly to spine). Preserved in a custom clamshell box. A brilliant first printing of this monumental work in the exceedingly rare original dust jacket.. A remarkably bright first printing-in the scarce original dust jacket-of one of W.B. Yeats's (1865-1939) most important poetry collections. One of only 400 printed. Michael Robartes and the Dancer includes the first book printing of some of Yeats's most famous poems, including "The Second Coming," "Easter, 1916," and "A Prayer for My Daughter." The book was printed and published by Yeats's sister, Elizabeth Corbet Yeats, and, according to its colophon, was completed on All Soul's Day (November 1st) 1920-although Wade (a Yeats editor and bibliographer) claims the book was not… Read More

Roma: Fratelli Bocca, 1896. First edition (in Italian). Octavo. Contemporary half-leather binding with purple percaline boards intricately embossed with a floral motif. Boards worn and scuffed, particularly along spine, with wear to joints; toning to leaves with spotting and minor staining throughout; one-centimeter closed tear to front free endpaper; pencil annotation to title verso page; neat colored pencil marks to several leaves, else a superb copy of this rare and foundational work of elite theory.. Scarce first edition of Gaetano Mosca's (1858-1941) definitive work of elite theory and the doctrine of the ruling class. Mosca earned his law degree from the University of Palermo in 1881 and thereafter taught law in a variety of Italian institutions, including at the University of Turin and the University of Rome. In 1909 Mosca was elected to the Chamber of Deputies of Italy, a parliamentary position that he held until 1919, the year he was nominated a life senator of the Kingdom of Italy. In 1925… Read More

London: Printed, and are to be sold by the Booksellers of London and Westminster, 1698. First edition. Folio (310 x 200 mm). Modern brown quarter calf, red morocco spine label and raised bands, with marbled boards, edges sprinkled red. Comes in a blue, flat-back cloth box. Ownership signature of "Adam Brown, 1797," and shelf mark to title page, several annotations and ink marks to contents, including sig. 302 verso. Contents occasionally spotted with small nick to top edge of S4 and short closed tear to lower edge of 2V2, else a very bright and clean copy housed in a nice custom box.. First edition of this major work of republican theory by English politician and republican theorist Algernon Sidney (1623-1683). Sidney wrote his Discourses Concerning Government between 1681 and 1683, and it originally circulated in manuscript form as a polemical refutation of Sir Robert Filmer's Patriarcha (1680), which defended the divine right of kings under absolute monarchy. Sidney opposed absolute monarchy as a… Read More

London: Longmans, Green & Co, 1958. Revised edition. Octavo. Original cloth boards and dust jacket (not price-clipped). Foxing and toning to endpapers and pastedowns; foxing, spotting, and rubbing to dust jacket with edgewear, particularly at jacket folds and along head and foot; sunning to spine; small ink inscription to front pastedown; general wear to dust jacket. Signed by Bernard Lonergan on the front free endpaper with message: "Bernard Lonergan S.J. / The fundamental principle is [...] conversion / eg. P. xxii, f. 'The hard fact is...'" Very good in good-plus dust jacket. Scarce with Lonergan's signature and personal annotation.. Bernard Lonergan's (1904-1984) masterpiece, Insight: A Study of Human Understanding, with Lonergan's rare personal signature and inscription to front free endpaper. Lonergan's Insight was born out of the success of a 1945 lecture that he gave at the Thomas More Institute in Montreal entitled "Thought and Reality." In the following years he wrote Insight in order to… Read More

Florence: G. Barbéra, 1916. First edition, first impression (in Italian). Octavo, two volumes. Original paper wrappers printed in black, partially unopened. Front joint of volume one repaired; closed tear to front wrapper of volume two, and repaired vertical split to book block of volume two; small library labels at head of each volume; some chipping to spines; a little light spotting internally. From the private library of economist Enrico Barone, with his stamp on front free endpaper of each volume. Very good.. First issue of Vilfredo Pareto's (1848-1923) foundational work of elite theory from the library of influential Italian economist Enrico Barone (1859-1924). Pareto was an Italian civil engineer, sociologist, economist, political scientist, and philosopher who made numerous groundbreaking contributions to the developing fields of economics and sociology. Perhaps his best-known work, Trattato di Sociologia Generale was first published in Italy in 1916, and was later published in English by… Read More

London: Printed for J. Dodsley, in Pall-Mall, 1790. First edition. Octavo. Period-style half calf and marbled boards, red morocco spine label. Offsetting to endpapers from leather tips, title page browned and spotting to certain leaves. Todd identifies three editions with a 1790 title page, comprising ten impressions. Todd's setting a of [A]2 with the ornamental flower on p. [iv] pointing to the right and the "M" in the imprint immediately below the first "D" of "Dodsley" and setting x of 2A2 with no press figure on p. 354. SC/2/6.. First edition of Edmund Burke's (1729-1797) enduring polemic against the French Revolution and defense of conservative principles. The publication of Burke's pamphlet in 1790 would prove a watershed moment in the birth and development of modern conservatism, as Reflections has been credited as among the first-and finest-transformative statements of traditionalism into a fully conceived political philosophy. Burke was an Irish statesman who served in the House of Commons… Read More

New York: Random House, 1952. First edition, first printing. Octavo. Original cloth and dust jacket (not price-clipped). Inscribed by Whittaker Chambers on the half-title page: "For Randy and Florence Crosby, with best wishes from Whittaker Chambers." Light rubbing, near-fine in a very good dust jacket that is in uncommonly great condition. A scarce and desirable first printing of this landmark work inscribed by Whittaker Chambers.. First printing of Witness inscribed by Whittaker Chambers (1901-1961). Chambers was an American writer, translator, and editor who, after years acting as a Communist Party member and Soviet spy, defected from the Soviet underground in 1938 and testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1948 about the Ware Group, which ultimately became the "trial of the century" when, from 1949 to 1950, Chambers was called as a witness to testify against Alger Hiss in the infamous Hiss perjury case. Chambers first published Witness in 1952 after the Saturday… Read More

Worcester: Printed by Isaiah Thomas, Jun. sold by him and by Mathew Carey, Philadelphia; also by the various Booksellers throughout the United States, 1802. First US edition. Two volumes bound as one. Contemporary calf. Re-backed, new endpapers, hole in upper margin of title and adjacent leaves, tear on final leaf affecting a few letters, browning and offsetting to pages. Enclosed in an open-end case of brown cloth with leather tips.. The first American edition of Montesquieu's (1689-1755) classic work of political theory that helped form the American Constitution. Montesquieu first published The Spirit of Laws in 1748 in his native France (as De l'esprit des loix) anonymously, in part because his works were subject to censorship. The book became recognized for its pioneering work on political theory and comparative law, and was rapidly translated into other languages and published throughout Europe. Thomas Nugent, the influential Irish historian and travel writer, published the first English… Read More

American Colonies, 1775. Original engraved boxwood block, 3 x 4 inches, three-quarters-inch deep, together with a uniformly framed modern impression. A few hair-line surface clefts and two larger clefts, one along the flag's edge and the other at flag center. Exceptionally rare and well-preserved Revolutionary War artifact depicting one of the most famous and enduring symbols and mottos of the colonial fight for independence.. Remarkable eighteenth-century engraved woodblock depicting an uncoiled rattlesnake against the thirteen-stripe flag emblazoned with the motto "Don't Tread on Me" set diagonally below. This original woodblock would have been used during the Revolutionary War to reproduce this defiant cartoon in colonial pamphlets, newspapers, and broadsides during the fight for independence. The cartoon's thirteen stripes represented the thirteen colonies, and the threatening serpent posed a striking warning to those who would dare tread upon their freedom. The rattlesnake was a well-known… Read More

Five rare books and associated ephemera (all published in French) from the private library of Maurice de Gandillac, 1930-1966. Maritain, Jacques: Éléments de Philosophie (I): Introduction Générale a la Philosophie, Paris: Pierre Téqui, Libraire-Éditeur, 1930. Reprint of the original 1920 edition. Original wrappers. Minor smudging and toning to wrappers and slight creasing to corners and faint staining to spine; minor toning to leaves. Portions uncut. Very good. Signed and inscribed by Jacques Maritain to Maurice de Gandillac on half-title page: "To Maurice de Gandillac / With affection / Jacques Maritain." Volume 1. Maritain, Jacques: De la Philosophie Chrétienne, Paris: Desclée de Brouwer, 1933. First edition. Original wrappers. Small red ink spot to foot of front wrapper; minor toning to leaves. Very good. Signed and inscribed by Jacques Maritain to Maurice de Gandillac on the front free endpaper: "To Maurice de Gandillac / Very affectionately / Jacques Maritain." Maritain, Jacques: Science… Read More

London: Henry & Co, 1896. First edition, first issue. Octavo. Original first issue blue cloth with gilt lettering to front and spine and eight pages of advertisements. Light toning to spine, extremities slightly rubbed; prior owner blindstamp, ink signature, and bookplate of John Farquhar McLay, bookplate of H.G. Plimmer to front pastedown. A rare and excellent example of this true first English issue of Nietzsche's masterwork.. Scarce true first English edition, first issue of Friedrich Nietzsche's (1844-1900) masterwork Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None (translated by Alexander Tille), published by Henry & Co. in 1896. Originally published in German in four parts between 1883 and 1885, Nietzsche's towering work was born out of profound philosophical insights that Nietzsche experienced while walking extensively throughout the Swiss Alps in the early 1880s. What followed was a concentrated burst of creative activity that produced a truly revolutionary work of philosophical literature. It… Read More

Rare books, articles, and correspondence, 1928-1989. English and German language works. Voegelin, Erich: Ueber die form des amerikanischen geistes: Tübingen, Germany: Verlag von J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1928. First edition. Original paper wrappers. Minor creasing and edgewear to wraps; former library sticker to spine and two-inch sticker scar to front wrap; library stamp to title page with penciled strike-through; otherwise leaves bright and unmarked. A scarce and well-preserved first edition of Voegelin's first published book (later translated as On the Form of the American Mind). [German language work]Voegelin, Erich: Rasse und staat: Tübingen, Germany: Verlag von J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1933. First edition. Original paper wrappers. Minor creasing and edgewear to wrappers with some rubbing and spotting; chipping to head and foot of spine; faint sunning to wrappers; occasional pencil underlining and marginalia; otherwise well-preserved. [German language work]Voegelin, Erich: Die… Read More