Beschreibung:

HOBBES, Thomas (1588-1679). Leviathan, or the Matter, Forme, & Power of a Common-wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civill. London: for Andrew Crooke, 1651. 2° (291 x 182mm). Engraved title, folding table, ornamental woodcut initials. (Light dampstain in upper margin of final quires, small stains in a few leaves.) Contemporary calf, speckled edges (rebacked preserving original gilt-stamped backstrip). Provenance : inscription erased from front flyleaf. A very fresh copy of the FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, with head ornament on title-page. Hobbes's landmark work "produced a fermentation in English thought not surpassed until the advent of Darwinism" (Pforzheimer). It unleashed a storm of controversy and was in such demand that when Pepys wished to buy a copy, he had to buy a copy second-hand and pay almost four times the original published price for it. Grolier Wither to Prior 454; Pforzheimer 491; PMM 138; MacDonald and Hargreaves 42; PMM 138.