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Autograph – Rare

Hans Jonas / Henry David Aiken, Typed letter, signed by German-born, American Jewish philosopher Hans Jonas

Aiken, Henry David / [Hans Jonas] / Quine, W.V.O.

Typed letter, signed by German-born, American Jewish philosopher Hans Jonas, loosely inserted in Henry David Aiken’s pamphlet “God and Evil: A Study of Some Relations Between Faith and Morals”. The Essay by Aiken is inscribed and signed by Aiken in a sarcastic manner: “To God, from one of his congregation – Shem”. In the letter, Jonas reflects on two pages on an evening with Henry David Aiken and his then wife Lillian Woodworth. In his letter to Aiken, Hans Jonas reports back to Aiken after reading his essay [″God and Evil”] and calls it “a beautiful piece of work – in style and content worthy of your “master” who wrote on natural theology….”. Jonas goes on encouraging Aiken: “you are also dead wrong n not publishing a collection of your essays in ethical theory. If your pal Quine can do it “from a logical point of you [sic]”, so can you “from a moral point of view”. Jonas also mentions “that it is worth writing about the ancient problem opf a theodicy in a contemporary context”. [The Essay is n Offprint from Ethics, An International Journal of Social, Political and Legal Philosophy, Volume LXVIII, No. 2].

New York / Washington, DC, 1958. 16,8 x 24 cm. 21 pages (pages 77-97 of the Journal) plus two page-letter (on one leaf), signed by Hans Jonas Original Offprint / Original TLS (Typed letter signed). Very good+ condition. Stapled. Only minimal signs of staining. The letter also discusses a Reference for one “Ed Sayles” and Jonas suggest that Aiken writes “casual but fairly strong” to Howard R. Bartlett, professor of history and head of the Department of Humanities at MIT.

EUR 1.800,-- 

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Beston, Full Speed Ahead. Tales from the Log of  a Correspondent with Our Navy.

Beston, Henry B. / [Sims, Admiral William Sowden].

Full Speed Ahead. Tales from the Log of a Correspondent with Our Navy. [Inscribed Association copy from Henry B. Beston to Admiral William Sowden Sims – with original typescript in an envelope that is tipped into the pastedown / It is a typescript of a letter that was written during Beston’s time as editor at the magazine “The Living Age” (an offshoot of ‘Atlantic Monthly’) and stunningly also reflects on Beston’s classmate, Theodore Roosevelt, whom he obviously gave a copy of this book and according to Beston’s letter to Sims, Theodore Roosevelt and his children confirming that they enjoyed it. The letter reveals that Beston sends this book as a “thank you” to Admiral Sims for his time as war correspondent under Sims’ command during World War I. The typescript of the letter must be seen as an extension to Beston’s Preface in the book in which he writes: “And no acknowledgment, no matter how studied or courtly, its phrasing, can express what I owe to Admiral Sims for the friendliness of my reception, for his care that i be shown all the Navy’s activities, and for his constant and kindly effort to advance my work in every possible way”].

First Edition. New York, Doubleday, 1919. Octavo. XIII, 254 pages. Original Hardcover in protective Mylar. Very Scarce [OCLC locates only 1 copy]. Very good + condition with only minor signs of external wear. The definitive, signed and inscribed association copy by Henry B. Beston to Admiral William Sowden Sims and also with a letter typescript to Admiral William Sowden Sims. The inscription reads: “To Admiral Sims with every grateful good wish of the author – Henry Beston Sheahan – 1919”.

EUR 1.400,-- 

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Louis Cobbett - Two Manuscript Books of Laboratory Notes by student of bacteriology and later publisher of

[Cobbett, Louis] [mentioned are: Behring, Emil von / Koch, Robert / Metchnikoff, Ilya (Élie) / Dönitz, Friedrich Karl Wilhelm / Ehrlich, Paul / Shield, Marmaduke and others]

Two Manuscript Books of Laboratory Notes by student of bacteriology and later publisher of “The Causes of Tuberculosis”, Louis Cobbett (1863 – 1947), dealing in these lab notes with the discovery of remedies for Tuberculosis and Diphtheria. Original, two-volume Manuscript-Compendium of research-notes regarding all the important discoveries in Bacteriology (Diphtheria and Tuberculosis) by contemporaries of Louis Cobbett during the years 1885 – 1908 (Behring, Koch, Metchnikoff etc.). The notes were started by Louis Cobbett in 1885, after graduating from Trinity College, Cambridge and while he was working towards his degree in 1899. The stunning documents are not only reading like a first-hand-journal of discoveries, citing and reflecting on all the important developments and medical advancements of the outgoing 19th and beginning 20th century, but these notes were written parallel to Robert Koch, Emil von Behring and others making their breakthrough discoveries for mankind’s desperately needed cures against Tuberculosis and Diphtheria. Cobbett reflects on the publications in the “Zeitschrift fuer Hygiene” and separately published books and articles. Louis Cobbett lists all the important and also the critical publications leading up to (for example) Koch’s discovery of Tuberculin (e.g.: Beck – “Ueber die diagnostische Bedeutung des Kochschen Tuberculins”), he mentions Emil von Behring, Paul Ehrlich’s “Ueber die Constitution des Diphteriegiftes”, he cites A.Jeffery Turner’s “Statistics on the Diphtheria mortality of the 3 principal Australian Colonies for the past 15 years” (published in 1899), he writes about Tuberculin production in fowl, he reflects on A.Calmette and G. Guerin, “supporting [Emil von] Behring in his contention that pulmonary tuberculosis is of intestinal origin”. Other mentions are “TB of human origin (from a cervical gland)”, he speculates on the publication by Fiebiger and Jensen regarding the transmission of tuberculosis from human to animal, he offers drawings of cultures with Rabbit emulsions, Bovine Characters, Avian cultural characters etc. A few lectures are referred to, including one by Sims Woodhead, a colleague of Louis Cobbett and no doubt attended by Cobbett himself; one newspaper report has been pasted in: ‘Important conference’ in Leeds, from Yorkshire Post 1899 / Louis Cobbett intensely elaborates on Kossel and his report on the english Tuberculosis – Commission in 1908 (H. Kossel – Die Tuberkulosefrage und die Arbeiten der englischen Tuberkulosekommission).

[Cambridge], c. 1885 – 1908. Octavo (17 cm x 21 cm). 90 blank leaves with manuscript entries in each volume, usually written on rectos only. Hardcover / Original half leather with dark blue cloth-covered boards bearing paper-labels to covers, detailing some of the sources cited within; marbled endpapers and edges. Very good condition with only minor signs of external wear.

EUR 2.800,-- 

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Collection of four very important and meaningful manuscript letters by Leopold II

Congo / Kongo – Leopold II of Belgium (1835-1909) – King of the Belgians and Owner / Absolute Ruler of the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908.

Collection of four very important and meaningful manuscript letters by Leopold II to his administrator and Foreign Minister of the Congo – Free-State, Baron Adolphe de Cuvelier (1860-1931) with a total of 16 pages filled with Leopold’s instructions on pressing issues regarding a warning about an imminent visit by the Rector of the Mill-Hill Missionaries [probably Herbert Alfred Henry Vaughan (1832 – 1903)] and Leopold’s qualification of the visit of being detrimental to the Congo Free State (″ne travaillent pas pour l’État”). Leopold continues in another letter to talk about the hostile positions of english officials (consuls) and missionaries (″que les consuls anglais et les missionnaires anglais se conduisent bien mal envers l’État”). Interestingly, Leopold also touches on the nuisance of the german press criticizing Belgian Railway Lines and he is of the opinion that this is all happening in order to force the german parliament [″Reichstag”] to finance the building of the Tanganyika Railway [between Dar es Salaam and Kigoma]: (″cherche à effrayer l’opinion [en] Allemagne à propos de mes chemins de fer afin d’obtenir du Reichstag des fonds pour la ligne allemande vers le Tanganika”.

16 pages of MLS, Manuscript Letters (signed) on 10 leaves of Leopold’s official stationery “Château de Laeken” and “Palais de Bruxelles”. Laeken / Brussels, Château de Laeken [Palace of Laeken], 1901 – 1906. The leaves with different sizes (13,5 cm x 9 cm) and (18 cm x 11,5 cm). Excellent condition. Unsigned. Tremendously rare to find original letters by Leopold II on the open market in which the Colonial Free State and the protection against inquisitive visitors is discussed in such clear and instructive fashion. Leopold’s correspondence with Adolphe de Cuvelier shows how he is very much trying to still protect and influence the narrative of his Colonial Slavery Outpost even in the final years of his life.

EUR 4.800,-- 

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Vere Foster,

Foster, Vere [Henry Louis / Lewis] / [Emily Albinia “Alba” Foster] / [Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire / Elizabeth, Duchess of Devonshire].

Amazing Vere Foster-Collection including Educational Materials and as a centerpiece the “Presentation Copy of “The Two Duchesses” with Autograph / Manuscript – Letter by Vere Foster to his niece, Emily Albinia “Alba” Foster. With a stunning, unpublished, two-page-letter, revealing several important details about the immediately favorable reviews and reception of the book [″in the Daily Telegraph”] and Vere Foster’s disdain about some criticism from one J.Donohue [which led to an alteration in the second edition of the book]. Vere Foster is also expecting a review to appear in the “Athenaeum” but reports “the Athenaeum has nothing yet”. Vere Foster apologizes to his niece for the delay in sending the book and explains that he had left 12 “parcels″£ with Blackie’s agent and gave instructions to send them but a few days later found they had been “untouched”. / The Two Duchesses – Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire / Elizabeth, Duchess of Devonshire – Family Correspondence of and Relating to Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire / Elizabeth, Duchess of Devonshire, Earl of Bristol (Bishop of Derby), The Countess of Bristol, Lord and Lady Byron, The Earl of Aberdeen, Sir Augustus Foster Bart, and Others, 1777-1859. [See Full list of items which are part of this collection, on our website under the topic “Libraries & Collections”].

First Edition. London / Glasgow and Dublin, Blackie & Son Limited, 1898. Octavo (15 cm x 22 cm). Pagination: Frontispiece, IX, [3], 497 pages with 18 Illustrations (including frontispiece and one Vignette of the two Duchesses opposite page 1). Hardcover / Original, publisher’s green cloth with gilt lettering on spine. Very good condition with some minor signs of wear only. This is an astonishing find for the Vere Foster Research Community and the letter gives significant insight into the importance the publication had for him, its reception as seen by Vere Foster and it solves the riddle why an altertaion was necessary for the second edition [which Vere Foster explains in a brief note to the reader at the beginning of the second edition]. The heartfelt inscription to his niece Albinia Foster is also of great importance and to our knowledge the only presentation-copy of this book on the international market for the several decades we can look back at auction records.

EUR 9.500,-- 

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