De l’esprit (On the Mind)

Paris: Durand, 1758. First printing. Hardcover. Very Good. HELVÉTIUS, Claude-Adrien. De l’esprit (On the Mind), Durand, Paris, 1758. 1 blank leaf + half-title + TP + i-xxii + [1]-643 + [644] = Approbation and Privilege du Roi + 1 blank leaf. Quarto. The “B” Tirage of De l’esprit (see below).Smith E.1b. “The history of Helvétius’s De l’esprit, his first major work, is eventful, complicated and paradoxical. No book during the eighteenth century, except perhaps Rousseau’s Émile, evoked such an outcry from the religious and civil authorities or such universal public interest. Condemned as atheistic, materialistic, sacrilegious, immoral and subversive, it enjoyed a remarkable success de scandale. The work lost its privilege within a fortnight of its publication.”The publication history is no less eventful and complicated. There are three distinct “first” editions of the book: called the “A”, “B” and “C” tirages. After carefully orchestrating efforts to mislead and bully the censor into a hasty approval of the text, the “A” tirage, “the first impressions of the original edition, which had begun to leave the presses by the end of June, were kept by Helvétius for his personal friends. But, before the work could be put on sale to the general public, Malesherbes, directeur de la librarie, ordered that publication of the work be suspended indefinitely.” The subversiveness of the book had been discovered and a new censor was introduced into the controversy and changes were made to the text. At this point, the “cunning” of Helvétius’s publisher, Durand came into play. He “set up a completely new type, modeling it upon the original edition. This type – it can easily be recognized by its different type-setting and by its several new printing errors – was adapted to suit the second censor’s requirements and was used to produce the second edition [the “B” tirage]… Thus, when De l’esprit was officially published in Paris on July 27th, 1758, nobody suspected that it was, in fact, a completely new edition.” However, Durand had secretly saved and hidden the original typeset forms.Everyone, including Helvétius, hoped that the submission to a second censor with the resulting changes and the granting of the new privilege would assure the book a safe passage but it was not to be. “Within ten days the Queen and the Dauphin complained about the book to the Chancelier… while the Paris Parlement informed Malesherbes of its intention to examine the work…[leading him to order] Durand to suspend the sale of De l’esprit immediately. He confiscated Durand’s typeset, doubtless thinking it unique, whereas Durand had, it seems, hidden away the original typeset for just such an eventuality… At least fourteen surreptitious editions appeared in 1758-59, some published semi-clandestinely by Durand, some elsewhere in France, some in Holland possibly by publishers under contract to Durand” (quotations from Smith’s article).“The publication in 1758 of his principal work, De l’esprit was noisily condemned by the authorities, both ecclesiastical and ministerial, for its dangerously heretical and subversive opinions. Suppression of the book signaled a grave – but fortunately temporary – setback for the party of philosophes and Encyclopedists. Despite the recantations that Helvetius was forced to make regarding De l’esprit, he reaffirmed his ideas even more strongly in De L’Homme, de ses facultes intellectuelles, et se son education, published posthumously in 1772.” (EP, Vol. 3, p. 472) Helvètius continued the work of Condillac by reducing all human understanding to sensation or sense-perception. He then took this reductionist psychology and erected a utilitarian theory of morality based upon it – making him “one of the chief pioneers and promoters of utilitarian moral theory” (Copelston, VI, 1, p. 51). Helvètius was a strong defender of the benefits of education and also extremely political – attacking all forms of despotism and, in particular, French despotism.CONDITION: Very good or better in a contemporary full calf binding with boards that are just a bit scuffed. The spine with five raised bands and beautiful gilt lettering and devices. Bookplate to front paste down. Stamp to upper corner of title page. Lovely marbled endpapers. Overall, a very beautiful copy of this book. 

PHOTOS AVAILAVBE UPON REQUEST