Hume (David) A Treatise on Human Nature, 2 vol., second edition, occasional foxing but quite heavy on titles, advertisement leaf at end of vol.1 and 16pp. publisher's catalogue at end of vol.2, uncut and almost entirely unopened in original boards, printed spine labels with a couple of small holes, head of spine of vol.1 with small piece missing, 8vo, Printed for Thomas and Joseph Allman, 1817.

⁂ A rare survival in entirely unsophisticated condition of the second edition of Hume's principal work. The first edition was published in three volumes in 1739-40 and it seems strange that a second edition was not published separately until nearly seventy years later but it was misunderstood and savagely reviewed on its first appearance. It has been estimated that a thousand copies were printed of the first edition but only four hundred copies or so had been sold by the middle of the eighteenth century. Despite this Hume's work is now regarded as one of the most important works in the history of philosophy, being hugely influential on other writers including his friend Adam Smith, Jeremy Bentham, Charles Darwin and Immanuel Kant amongst others.

Rare at auction, a copy sold in these rooms in 2020 being the only one cited on RBH.

Provenance: Mr. Middleton (ink name on front free endpaper of each volume).