Système des contradictions économiques, ou Philosophie de la misère
Rare first edition of Proudhon's major work, which provoked the anger of Karl Marx and confirmed the break between the two men.
A very fine copy preserved in its contemporary binding.
Half red morocco, spine with raised bands decorated with blind tooling and gilt fleurons, gilt supralibros at the foot of spine, gilt edges.Contemporary binding.
210 x 132 mm.
Proudhon, Pierre-Joseph. System of Economic Contradictions, or Philosophy of Poverty.
Paris, Guillaumin et Cie, Booksellers, 1846.
Rare first edition of Proudhon's major work, which provoked the anger of Karl Marx and marked the definitive break between the two men.
Stammhammer, I, p.70; Kress, C 6940; Goldsmiths, 34909; In French in the text, 260.
“The System of Economic Contradictions offers an impressive synthesis, remarkable for its scope and richness, of Proudhon’s philosophical, economic, and political thought” (M. Lajugie).
In this work Proudhon presents his first theses on mutualism, which would inspire the project of the exchange bank. It is in this book that Proudhon’s criticism of communism is at its sharpest. Karl Marx would respond vigorously and severely to this work, publishing in 1847 his famous reply: Poverty of Philosophy.
Many passages of the System of Contradictions are addressed to Marx.
“The Revolution of 1848 was to make Proudhon (1809-1865) a major political figure. He would be sentenced to prison for ‘incitement to hatred and contempt of the government’ in March 1849. Among the socialist writers of the 19th century, Proudhon stands out for being an authentic writer, attentive to style, a vigorous dialectician formed by the reading of Hegel, and endowed with the tireless erudition of an autodidact. Furthermore, more than a politician or an economist, he was a moralist: he had a passion for a somewhat abstract justice, founded on the uncompromising respect for the individual” (Dictionary of Authors).
“Proudhon is, alongside Louis Veuillot, the only writer from the mid-nineteenth century with a truly proletarian origin, who knew what the people were, who understood their qualities, and who denied intellectuals from the bourgeoisie the right to lead them astray” (In French in the text).
Very beautiful copy of this rare first edition, preserved in its elegant contemporary binding.
Provenance: V. Charner Library (super ex-libris at lower spine and handwritten ex-libris).
Born in 1836, Victor Charner, son of Léopold Victor Charner (1797-1869), deputy after the 1848 Revolution for the Côtes du Nord department, rear admiral in 1852, vice-admiral, head of naval forces in the Far East in 1860, was appointed paymaster-general for Orne in 1890 and sub-prefect at Ploërmel and Montreuil. He was the author of the work entitled On Universal Suffrage and Electoral Law and was a passionate bibliophile.
