first edition Hardcover
1687 · London
by Stanley, Thomas
London: Thomas Bassett, 1687. Second (first collective) edition. Hardcover. Very good. Two parts, folio (35.5 by 22.5 cm). [28], 228 (pp. 60; 122 blank), 351-445, 452-587, [1, blank], 737-960, [12]; [1025]-1091, [1, bookseller's catalogue] pp. Text in two columns. Main title page in red and black, within double-ruled border; separate dated title page for the Chaldaick Philosophy; printed marginalia; engraved frontispiece portrait of Stanley (signed: P: Lilly pinxit Guil: Faithorne scul.), 26 three-quarter page engraved full-length portraits within the text, 3 engraved diagrams and a few other small woodcut or letterpress tables and diagrams in the text. Full contemporary mottled calf (expertly rebacked, corners restored, original spine laid-down, lightly rubbed at extremities), spine with raised bands, gilt morocco lettering piece. Occasional discrete pencil annotations in the margins; occasional mild toning; occasional oxidation spots (in a few instances wearing through and obscuring a letter or two). A very good, crisp copy in a handsome, restored binding.
First collective edition of these critical biographies of the Greek philosophers, beginning with Thales, including selections from their writings. This ambitious work was originally published in three volumes between 1655 and 1661. The fourth volume, The History of the Chaldaick Philosophy, appeared in 1662 and "is briefer and more tentative in treating the occult learning of ancient Egypt, Babylonia, and Persia" (Chernaik). As Stanley, himself, notes in the present edition: "there is not any thing more difficult to be retrieved out of the Ruins of Antiquity than the Learning of the Eastern Nations, and particularly that of the Chaldaeans" (p. 1028). Here we find a selection of the Chaldean Oracles, spiritual and philosophical texts referenced by Proclus, Iamblichus, and other Neoplatonist writers of late antiquity. The original writings do not survive, but the fragments quoted by the Neoplatonists have been collected, as in the Magia Philosophica, hoc est Zoroaster et eius 320 Oracula Chaldaica edited by Franciscus Patritius in 1593. Stanley provides Patritius' Latin translation of the fragments, along with the original Greek texts in parallel columns, followed by his English translation. Thomas Stanley (1625-1678), wealthy patron of poetry, was himself both a poet (the last of the metaphysical school) and a scholar. Translated into Latin and Greek, his History of Philosophy was long the principal authority on the progress of thought in ancient Greece, and was not superseded until Johann Jakob Brucker's more ambitious and scholarly effort, the Historia Critica Philosophiae, appeared in five volumes between 1742 and 1767. The series of charming engravings display a great zeal for the maximum range of expression (and head-gear) betwixt the twenty-six thinkers here depicted for our edification.
A note on the signatures and pagination: Despite the notorious breaks in pagination, this work is complete, as confirmed by the signature collation provided by Oxford University and the pagination provided by ESTC. Page 162 numbered 262; pagination errors at pages 365, 469, 865 and 872 were carefully hand-corrected at an early date.
Provenance: Bookplate of Sir Edward Winnington, Bart. (1st Baronet, ca. 1728-1791), along with ink entry of Howard Baker at the front paste-down. References: W. Chernaik, "Thomas Stanley" [in:] ODNB online; ESTC R200925; Wing S5239. Cf. Scholars, Texts, Traditions: The Influence of Classical Antiquity in Western Culture (Stanford University Libraries, 1984), no. 58.
Full title and imprint: The History of Philosophy: Containing the lives, opinions, actions and discourses of the philosophers of every sect. Illustrated with the Effigies of divers of them. By Thomas Stanley, Esq; The Second Edition. London: printed for Thomas Bassett, at the George in Fleetstreet, Dorman Newman, at the Kings Arms, and Thomas Cockerill, at the Three Leggs in the Poultery, MDCLXXXVII. [1687] -- The History of the Chaldaick Philosophy. By Thomas Stanley. London: printed by Ralph Holt, for Thomas Bassett at the George in Fleet-Steet [sic] near Clifford's-Inn, MDCLXXXVII. [1687]. (Inventory #: 54510)
First collective edition of these critical biographies of the Greek philosophers, beginning with Thales, including selections from their writings. This ambitious work was originally published in three volumes between 1655 and 1661. The fourth volume, The History of the Chaldaick Philosophy, appeared in 1662 and "is briefer and more tentative in treating the occult learning of ancient Egypt, Babylonia, and Persia" (Chernaik). As Stanley, himself, notes in the present edition: "there is not any thing more difficult to be retrieved out of the Ruins of Antiquity than the Learning of the Eastern Nations, and particularly that of the Chaldaeans" (p. 1028). Here we find a selection of the Chaldean Oracles, spiritual and philosophical texts referenced by Proclus, Iamblichus, and other Neoplatonist writers of late antiquity. The original writings do not survive, but the fragments quoted by the Neoplatonists have been collected, as in the Magia Philosophica, hoc est Zoroaster et eius 320 Oracula Chaldaica edited by Franciscus Patritius in 1593. Stanley provides Patritius' Latin translation of the fragments, along with the original Greek texts in parallel columns, followed by his English translation. Thomas Stanley (1625-1678), wealthy patron of poetry, was himself both a poet (the last of the metaphysical school) and a scholar. Translated into Latin and Greek, his History of Philosophy was long the principal authority on the progress of thought in ancient Greece, and was not superseded until Johann Jakob Brucker's more ambitious and scholarly effort, the Historia Critica Philosophiae, appeared in five volumes between 1742 and 1767. The series of charming engravings display a great zeal for the maximum range of expression (and head-gear) betwixt the twenty-six thinkers here depicted for our edification.
A note on the signatures and pagination: Despite the notorious breaks in pagination, this work is complete, as confirmed by the signature collation provided by Oxford University and the pagination provided by ESTC. Page 162 numbered 262; pagination errors at pages 365, 469, 865 and 872 were carefully hand-corrected at an early date.
Provenance: Bookplate of Sir Edward Winnington, Bart. (1st Baronet, ca. 1728-1791), along with ink entry of Howard Baker at the front paste-down. References: W. Chernaik, "Thomas Stanley" [in:] ODNB online; ESTC R200925; Wing S5239. Cf. Scholars, Texts, Traditions: The Influence of Classical Antiquity in Western Culture (Stanford University Libraries, 1984), no. 58.
Full title and imprint: The History of Philosophy: Containing the lives, opinions, actions and discourses of the philosophers of every sect. Illustrated with the Effigies of divers of them. By Thomas Stanley, Esq; The Second Edition. London: printed for Thomas Bassett, at the George in Fleetstreet, Dorman Newman, at the Kings Arms, and Thomas Cockerill, at the Three Leggs in the Poultery, MDCLXXXVII. [1687] -- The History of the Chaldaick Philosophy. By Thomas Stanley. London: printed by Ralph Holt, for Thomas Bassett at the George in Fleet-Steet [sic] near Clifford's-Inn, MDCLXXXVII. [1687]. (Inventory #: 54510)
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