Four Dissertations. - 1757

London: printed for A. Millar,, 1757. Hume's final major work First edition, the first appearance of all four essays, complete with the dedicatory leaves to John Home. Originally the collection was to include the first three essays plus "Of Suicide" and "Of the Immortality of the Soul", but Hume omitted them fearing controversy, replacing them with "Of the Standard of Taste". It was his final major work to be published, and Hume never allowed the collection to be reprinted. The book displays considerable variation between copies. Here, the first word on p. 9 is "ative" - the first sheets were printed correctly "lative", but the "l" was then dropped, and again reinserted. The first word on p. 131 is corrected as "lancing", previously "Iancing". Cancels C12 and D1 and the omission of K5-K8 agree with the description of Todd, p. 200. The dedicatory leaves to John Home were removed by Hume and afterwards reinserted. Some copies were issued in the interim and so the leaves are sometimes lacking, here present. Duodecimo (164 x 94 mm). Contemporary calf, spine ruled in gilt. Joints and extremities neatly restored. Endpapers browned from turn ins, front free endpaper, half-title, and leaf B2 with short closed tear not affecting text, contents a little browned. A very good copy. Chuo I, 45; ESTC T4011; Jessop, pp. 33-5; Rothschild 1176; Todd, pp. 200-1. E. C. Mossner, "Hume's Four Dissertations: an essay in biography and bibliography", Modern Philology, 48:1, 1950, pp. 37-57.