Pensées Philosophiques, Morales, Critiques, Littéraires de Politiques de M. Hume

A Londres Et se trouve à Paris Chez la Veuve Duchesne, Libraire, rue St. Jacques, au Temple du Gout. M. DCC. LIVII. 1767. 12mo, 182 x 110 mms., pp. [iv], xii, 416, engraved portrait of Hume between half-title and title-page, original (or contemporary) marbled wrappers, entirely uncut, hand written paper label on spine; extremities worn and frayed, joints a little soft, but a copy that would please most aficionados of books in their "as issued" state, straight from the printers. Hume's works were first translated into French in 1754, Discourse Politiques, which was followed by four other volumes, all translated by Eleazar de Mauvillon. The translation here is by J. A. J. de Boulmiers. For a useful commentary on the text, see the article by Michel Malherbe, "Hume's Reception in France," in Peter Jones, ed., The Reception of David Hume in Europe (2005). Of this "translation," he records, that "A speculative sceptic can be a fine man in the world. Banish the sceptic and keep the sensible man. That is the expedient adopted by the author of the Pensées Philosophiques,Morales, Critiques, Littéraires de Politiques de M. Hume which everyone knew was not written by Hume himself. But by omitting, deleting, truncating, reducing texts, a method not unusual at that time, the translator gathered together a string of agreeable ideas, judged suitable for public learning. The reason given in the preface for publishing such a book is that the Essais philosophicque et politiques...were under censorhop in France, in spite of the efforts by the editor (Formey) and translator (Merian and others) to make the volumes acceptable, and that ordinary readers could gain no access to their content. Accordingly 'we have omitted from the OEuvres Philosophiques, everything that appeared too far from the principles of religion.'" A review of this volume was published in L'Année littéraire 1767, where the reviewer praised the translators good sense and prudence. ESTC T83616. Copies in BL, Cambridge, Bodleian, NLS, Leeds (Brotherton); Chicago, Indiana, Harvard; McGill, Toronto; Lodz Universytet Biblioteka - Lodz, Poland, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.