Oct 13, 2022 - Sale 2617

Sale 2617 - Lot 39

Unsold
Estimate: $ 500 - $ 700
[Economics] Godwin, William (1756-1836)
Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, and its Influence on Morals and Happiness.

London: Printed for G.G. and J. Robinson, 1796.

Second edition, with considerable alterations, two octavo volumes, half-titles present in both volumes; the set bound in full contemporary tree calf, nicely preserved, with gilt-titled red morocco labels to spines; 8 1/4 x 5 in. (2)

Godwin was a radical anti-authoritarian thinker and philosopher, an early promoter of utilitarianism, and the first modern writer to advance theories of anarchy. He was married to Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) and father to Mary Shelley (1797-1851). Of Mary Shelley's upbringing, carried out in the absence of her mother, who died eleven days after her birth, Godwin wrote, "I am anxious that she should be brought up like a philosopher, even like a cynic."