[Du contrat social ou] Principes du droit politique
« The Social Contract remains Rousseau’s greatest work. It had the most profound influence on the political thinking of the generation following its publication » (PMM).
First edition preserved in its contemporary binding.
Octavo, (2) leaves, VIII and 323 pp., (1) page, (1) blank leaf.
Half brown calf, smooth spine decorated with gilt fillets, red morocco title label, marbled edges, scattered foxing. Contemporary binding.
205 x 120 mm.
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. [The Social Contract, or] Principles of Political Right.
Amsterdam, Marc Michel Rey, 1762.
First edition of the Social Contract, a major work by Rousseau which “had a decisive impact on the development of modern political and moral thought” (Dictionnaire des Œuvres).
Tchemerzine, V, 543; Dufour, 133; R.A. Leigh, Unsolved problems in the bibliography of Rousseau, Cambridge, 1990; Sénelier, Bib. Rousseau, 554; PMM, 207; En français dans le texte, 162.
First edition with title of type B according to Dufour; modern research describes a third state according to the presence or omission of the note on the “republican marriage” on pages 321-322. All three states, rare and sought after, constitute the first edition of the Social Contract, one of the most important works of the Enlightenment.
This copy contains the famous title vignette commissioned by Rousseau.
“This little book was burned in Geneva” in June 1762. (Voltaire)
Although not officially condemned by the administrative authorities, copies of the Social Contract were actively tracked down. No copy was authorized for import from Amsterdam and no French bookseller was allowed to sell or publish it. The work was, in a matter of months, reprinted, counterfeited, and pirated many times.
One of the founding books of the democratic system.
“The Contrat Social remains Rousseau’s greatest work. It was the first great emotional plea for the equality of all men in the state. His fundamental thesis that governments depend absolutely on the mandate of people and his genuine creative insight into a number of political and economic problems gave his work an indisputable cogency. It had the most profound influence on the political thinking of the generation following its publication ” (PMM).
The rare and sought-after first edition of the Social Contract preserved in its period binding.
