Collection: Philosophy and Critical Theory

First appearance in book form of this essay on the relationship between power and violence, by German-born philosopher Hannah Arendt (1906-1975); a revised and enlarged version of a text that first appeared under the title "Reflections on Violence" a 1969 issue of the Journal of... More

NY: St. Martin's Press, 1954. 8vo. ix+289pp, indexed. American issue of the first edition. Blue cloth, gilt spine titles. Small tape ghosts at top and bottom of endpapers, else very fine in a fine, unclipped "$4.50" jacket with a very short closed tear at base of... More

NY: Orion Press, 1964. Hardcover, 8vo. xxxv+241pp. First printing. Reddish-orange cloth boards with grey titles. Light wear at spine ends and tips, former owner's name and address inked neatly on front free end paper, else near fine. Unclipped "$6.00" jacket has two 1/2" closed tears with... More

London: Haslewood Books, 1924. Hardcover. Essays individually paginated. First this, being an "exact reprint, page for page and line for line, of the first edition of Bacon's Essayes." Hand-numbered copy 348 of a limited edition of 975. Faux-vellum boards show a touch of bowing. Former... More

Sharp first edition of this posthumously published book in which the noted French theorist meditates on various aspects of photography. Translated by Richard Howard. NY: Hill and Wang, 1981. First American edition. Octavo (5.75 x 8.5 in.); 119pp.; black papered boards backed with oatmeal cloth;... More

Chicago: The Priory Press, 1966. Hardcover. 8vo. viii+197pp, indexed. Presumed first (no statement of printing). Rust-colored cloth, gilt spine titles. Light bumping to spine ends, some waterspotting to top of textblock, else very near fine. Very good (+) unclipped "$5.00" jacket lightly edgeworn & browned. Scarce... More

Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame Press, 1967. First edition. Small octavo (8.25 x 5 in.); xiii, 271pp.; green cloth boards, in dust jacket. Top of front free endpaper clipped, presumably to remove a former owner's name—an excision which accidentally resulted in a 3" horizontal slit... More

NY: The Macmillan Company, 1967. First edition. Octavo (8.5 x 5.75 in.); 250pp., indexed; teal cloth boards, in dust jacket. Light shelfwear, toning to fore-edge of textblock, light fading/dust soiling to pink topstain. A touch of foxing to pastedowns. A very good (+) copy in... More

First edition of Davis' heralded postmodern analysis of Los Angeles urbanism. Photographs by Robert Morrow. London/New York: Verso, 1990. First printing (no additional printings noted on copyright page). Octavo, 9-1/2 x 6-3/8 in.ix, 462pp., with index. Black textured-paper boards; silver spine titles; dust jacket. Light... More

NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1939. 8vo. 176pp. Sixth printing. Maroon cloth, gilt spine titles, dark grey topstain. Very light shelfwear to base of boards, else fine in a near fine jacket, lightly rubbed to front and spine panels, and with a short closed tear at base... More

NY: Philosophical Library, 1946. 8vo. 311pp, indexed. Green textured paper boards, black titles. Light bumping to base of spine, else very fine in a fine, unclipped "$5.00" jacket. Although this volume meets first edition criteria (no additional printings stated, per McBride), it would seem to be a... More

Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press, 1989. First edition. Hardcover. 8vo. ix + 359pp, indexed. Full purple cloth, no jacket, presumably as issued. Some faint yellowish discolorations near base of rear board, splash mark to base of textblock, with some related (fairly minor) moisture-wavering to a handful... More

A nice first printing of the 20th century philosopher's best-known work, an incendiary attack on the scientific method. Using as his principal case study Galileo's theory of heliocentrism, Feyerabend argues that few scientific advances can be ascribed purely to empiricist methodology, and that instead an... More

Sharp first edition of the French philosopher's first book to appear in English translation: an abridged version of his 1961 doctoral thesis, which tracks the shifting conceptions of madness and reason from the Renaissance to the Modern Age. Informed by Foucault's own struggles with mental... More

Scarce first English-language appearance of two important works of educational theory by the Brazilian philosopher, author most notably of Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970). "Education as the Practice of Freedom" translated and edited by Myra Bergman Ramos; "Extension or Communication" translated by Louise Bigwood and... More

New Haven, Yale University Press, 1976. 8vo. xi+118pp, indexed. Green textured paper boards. First edition. A very fine copy in fine jacket which shows a touch of rubbing. Appears unread. Five essays on Hegel by the important 20th century German philosopher. Translated and with an introduction... More

London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1973. First edition. Octavo (8.75 x 5.5 in.); xii, 225pp.; brown cloth boards, in dust jacket. Light horizontal crease to the cloth of the front board, evidently the result of a bending stress. Else very good (+) with light toning... More

First American edition of this collection of articles and essays by the Hungarian Marxist philosopher and literary critic. Translated from the German by Michael McColgan. Edited and with an introduction by Rodney Livingstone. NY: Harper & Row, 1972. First American Edition. Octavo, 8-1/2 x 5-3/4... More

Sharp copy of this uncommon title in which the Hungarian-born Catholic philosopher argues against traditional modes of epistemology in favor of a theory that places distinction on the separation of subject and object, god and man. NY: Basic Books, 1973. First edition (full number line... More

Cambridge: Bows & Bowes, 1953. 12mo. 78pp. Slim hardcover volume bound in full red cloth, with gilt spine titles and red topstain. Light foxing/off-setting to end pages, otherwise near fine. Good+ jacket has a 1" by 1/4" chip at the top of rear panel, a... More

Uncommon later edition of this noteworthy collection of essays by the British philosopher, originally published in England and America in 1935 (though the front jacket flap bizarrely credits this as the "first American publication," there was in fact a 1935 edition published in New York... More

NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1897. First American edition. Hardcover. 8vo. viii + 308pp. Blue publisher's cloth, gilt spine titles. Crushing and some short closed splits to cloth at spine ends, moderate general shelfwear (boards just peeking through at bottom tips), toning to deckled fore-edge. Else very... More

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982. Hardcover. 8vo. 184pp. First edition. Black textured paper boards with gilt spine titles. Minor bumping to spine ends and bottom front corner, else fine in a near fine jacket with light crumpling at spine ends & a 3/4" closed tear... More

Uncommon collection of essays by the polymathic video artist and theorist. Los Angeles: Sun & Moon Press, 1996. First edition. Perfect-bound in printed wraps, 7 1/2 x 5 in. 303pp. Near fine, with mild toning and wear to wraps. More

Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1977. First edition. Octavo (9.5 x 6.25 in.); xi + 210pp.; brown cloth boards stamped in bronze on front panel and spine, lacking a jacket as issued. A fine  hardcover copy of the first issue of this journal of... More