Baruch Spinoza, *Ethics* [1888]

Publisher: Main Printing House at the E. Wende & Co. Bookstore, Warsaw

Year of publication: 1888. First Polish edition.

Size: 18 cm.

Volume: [XLVIII] pages of critical introduction + 254 pages of text.

Binding: Original period half-leather bookbinder’s binding with embossing on the spine.

Translation: Antoni Paskal (real name Antoni Sozański), from the original Latin.

The first Polish translation of Spinoza’s *Ethics* was published 211 years after the posthumous publication of the original Latin text in 1677. The initiator and scholarly editor of the edition was Henryk Struve, a professor of philosophy in Warsaw and the author of an extensive critical introduction. In *Ethics*, Spinoza expounds his system using the geometric method—through definitions, axioms, and proofs—identifying God with Nature. It is one of the most influential works of modern rationalism.

The book was published by the Warsaw bookstore E. Wende & Co., with the approval of the censors, which was required at the time.

The first Polish edition of a classic of modern philosophy.

The block is consistent; the cards are clean.

An item from the 19th Polish Antiquarian Book Auction.