A Project for Settling an Everlasting Peace in Europe. First Proposed by Henry IV. Of France, and approved of by Queen Elizabeth, and most of the then Princes of Europe, and now discussed at large, and made practicable.

Engraved vignette of Europe and Northern Africa on title. 8vo. Bound in contemporary half-calf over marbled board, recently rebacked. London: Printed for J. W. 1714. First Edition. (ESTC T44576)

English translation of the Abbé de Saint-Pierre's proposal for universal peace, widely seen as a precursor to the modern European Union and United Nations, and an important influence in its own time on both Rousseau and Kant. A fundamental text in the study of both modern and Enlightenment attitudes towards war.


The existence of such translations of Saint-Pierre's work is significant: the scheme depended on wide adoption by the sovereigns of Europe, and the present translation suggests that some in England were prepared to take the Abbé's suggestions seriously. Saint-Pierre himself was evidently aware of this translation, as acknowledged in a letter from him appended to the end of the work, dated April 14, 1714. The translator, however, remains unidentified.
The Abbé proposed the creation of a central pan-European Union which would eventually be extended first to the Muslim nations, and then to Asia. In addition to presenting 15 distinct advantages of a 'European Society,' he considers in his treatise over 60 moral, political, and practical objections to his proposal, including the objection that 'princes do not read.' The project was widely criticized as utopian. Yet Immanuel Kant revived essentially the same proposal in 1795, in a more sardonic and ambiguous tone, and with considerably less detail, and it is he rather than the Abbé who often receives credit for having envisioned the modern United Nations. The Abbé's proposal was also revived by Rousseau, who issued his own critical abridgment of the Project with commentary in 1761.


Early ownership inscription on front and rear pastedowns; some underlining in pencil to scattered pages; boards slightly scuffed, missing 1-inch section of marbled paper on front cover; occasional toning or browning to text; o/w Very Nice.