Human Sciences

Contact Jonathan Harrison, Alfred Pasternack or Barbara Scalvini

Human Sciences at Quaritch embraces a wide range of books and manuscripts documenting the history of ideas from the earliest times up to about 1960. Our strengths are in the history of economic thought and in philosophy, but we also deal in law; finance and banking (including speculation, actuarial science and insurance); politics and political theory; sociology; psychology; agriculture; education; logic; and the theory of language.

Some notable items which have recently passed through our hands include the only known copy of the Communist Manifesto inscribed by Karl Marx, Rudolf Carnap’s annotated copy of Wittgenstein’s Tractatus (Logisch-philosophische Abhandlung), Joseph Penso de la Vega’s Confusion de Confusiones (1688, the first book to describe the practice of a stock-exchange) and a copy of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations (4th edition, 1786), inscribed in Smith's own hand to Bonnie Prince Charlie's private secretary.

As well as dealing in individual books and manuscripts, we also offer collections. In recent years we have sold author collections of Friedrich Nietzsche, Bertrand Russell, Thorstein Veblen, Emile Durkheim and Jeremy Bentham. Among subject collections we have offered are the Herwood Library of accounting literature (including Pacioli's Summa de Arithmetica, 1494, the first printed exposition of double-entry book-keeping); the philosophy of language; texts pertaining to the theory and study of language in the West, and the history of probability - the calculus of probabilities, statistics and their applications.

  1. CAMPOMANES, Pedro Rodriguez (Antonio Conca y Alcaraz, translator).

    Trattato della regalia d’ammortizzazione,...

    Parma, Filippo Carmignani, 1767.

    First Italian translation of this influential...

    £350

  2. CARAVADOSSI, Enrico.

    La moderna filosofia convinta d’inganno...

    Turin, Giammichele Brioio, 1793.

    First and seemingly only edition of this...

    £395

  3. CARD, Henry.

    Literary Recreations …

    London, Printed by W. Wilson … for Longman,...

    First edition of a scarce collection of...

    £650

  4. [CARDUCCI, Giosuè, Olindo GUERRINI, et al., editors.] 

    Il Matto.  Anno I – Num. 1 [– Num. 13;...

    Bologna, 19 April [– 29 June] 1874. 

    Very rare complete run of this short-lived...

    £1000

  5. CAREL DE SAINTE-GARDE, Jacques.

    Les Sarrazins chassez de France. Poëme...

    Paris, Claude Barbin, 1667.

    First edition, very rare, of this poetic...

    £850

  6. CAREY, Henry Charles.

    The Past, the Present and the Future.

    Philadelphia, Carey & Hart, 1848.

    First edition. Carey vigorously appeals...

    £375

  7. [CARLYLE.]

    Illustrated memorial Volume of the Carlyle’s...

    London, The Carlyle’s House Memorial...

    First edition of an uncommon commemorative...

    £325

  8. CARNAP, Rudolf.

    1959 & 1962.

    The first photograph shows Carnap and his...

    £1500

  9. CARNEGIE, Andrew.

    The Empire of Business.

    New York, Doubleday, Page & Company, 1902.

    First edition (with ‘April, 1902’ statement...

    £600

  10. [CARTOUCHE.]

    The Life and Actions of Lewis Dominique...

    London, printed for J. Roberts … 1722.

    First edition in English, published in...

    £1750

  11. CASAUBON, Meric.

    A Treatise concerning Enthusiasme, as it...

    London, R.D. for Thomas Johnson, 1655...

    First edition of the first separate treatise...

    £1750

  12. [CATHERINE the Great of Russia.] BETSKOY, [Ivan]; [Nicolas-Gabriel LE] CLERC, translator; [Denis DIDEROT, contributor].

    Les plans et les statuts, des différents...

    Amsterdam, Marc-Michel Rey, 1775.

    First edition in French, translated from...

    £3000

  13. [CAVALLERI, Paolo Agostino.]

    Lettera dall’Adriatico del signor Antonio...

    Rome, Giovanni Zempel, 1792 (colophon 1793).

    First edition, uncommon, of this counter-revolutionary...

    £375

  14. ‘CHAFF, Gumbo’ [pseud. Elias HOWE].

    The Ethiopian Glee Book; a Collection of...

    Boston, Elias Howe, 1848 [– 1849].

    First editions of all three parts – a...

    £2000

  15. CHALMERS, David.

    Histoire abbregee de tous les roys de France,...

    Paris, Jean Fevrier, 1579.

    First edition of Chalmer’s historical...

    £950

  16. [CHAPBOOK.]

    Narrow Escape from the Punishment of Death,...

    London: Printed by Augustus Applegath...

    An uncommon early chapbook from the press...

    £225

  17. [CHAPBOOK.]

    The Patriarch: an Account of a Family in...

    London and Bristol, Wright, Allis, & Bagnall,...

    Unrecorded. ‘This interesting article...

    £950

  18. [CHARITY.]

    Reglement du 11 Juin 1752, concernant la...

    Dijon, Antoine Defay, [1752].

    Very rare work detailing the regulations...

    £850

  19. [CHARLES II.]

    RIVET, Jean. ‘Le favory du Ciel ou Meditation...

    [Caussade en Quercy, 1664.]

    A fascinating manuscript meditation on...

    £1850

  20. CHERUBINI, Luigi.

    Autograph note signed ‘L. Cherubini’...

    [Paris,] 19 December 1825.

    A short note in which the composer and...

    £350