The Big Typescript: TS 213

Malden, Massachusetts and Oxford, England: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2005. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/near fine. First printing, quarto size, 516 pp. (but over 1000 including both German and English pp., see below). The philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) has been vastly influential to artists and thinkers alike; despite having only one book published during his lifetime, Wittgenstein was a prolific writer and many of his manuscripts were published posthumously.

This the first printing of his "Big Typescript": a collection of his writings dictated to a typist which Wittengenstein began revising even as he was dictating, "here set out in an en-face German-English scholars' edition, complete with clear indications to help the reader identify the various leverls of Wittgenstein's edition" (n.b., info and quote from jacket flap).

___DESCRIPTION: Bound in full black cloth over boards, silver lettering stamped onto the spine, black endpapers, the German-language pages on the left (versos) and the English-language pages facing those, on the right (rectos); quarto size (9 7/8" by 6 7/8"), pagination: [i-v, preliminary pages] vi-xviiie [2] 1-506e (note that the publisher numbered the English pages with the same page number as the German with the letter 'e" appended), 507-512 ("Register") 513-516 ("Index"). The dust jacket is unclipped (albeit unpriced), on the front panel an image of Wittgenstein overlaid with a facimile of the annotated typescript, review blurbs on the back panel, short summary of work on the front flap, short bios of the editors/translators on the back flap.

___CONDITION: Volume fine overall, with clean boards, straight corners without rubbing, a strong, square text block with solid hinges, the interior is clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; a minute spot at the top of the front joint, a very shallow ding to the bottom edge of the front board, else fine. The unclipped dust jacket near fine, clean with light overall edgewear and a few shallow unintended creases at the head of the spine and the top of the back panel.

___POSTAGE: Please note that this is an unusually large and heavy volume (as the actual page count is over 1000, including the German and English pages) and additional postage may apply; please inquire for details.

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