SPINOZA, Baruch (1632-1677). Renati Des Cartes Principiorum Philosophiae Pars I, & II, More Geometrico demonstrate. Amsterdam: Jan Rieuwertz, 1663.

First edition of the first book, the only one published under his own name, of Spinoza—the boldest philosopher of the Enlightenment. Spinoza was born to a Portuguese Jewish family in Amsterdam and in 1656 was the subject of the harshest writ of excommunication ever issued by the Sephardic community there, a sign that he had already begun expressing the radical philosophical ideas that he is recognized for today. Afterwards, he worked as a lens grinder and a private teacher of philosophy; this, his first work, is a commentary on the work of Descartes written in a didactic style and likely intended for use by his students. After this publication, Spinoza's blend of idiosyncratic Cartesian metaphysics with ancient thought and the Medieval Jewish rationalist tradition would lead him to keep his works anonymous. Van der Linde 1, J. Kingma, Bibliography of Spinoza's works, 1; Caillet 10312.

Quarto (201 x 150mm). Woodcut diagram on title and others in text (some light dustsoiling, a few waterstains, last leaf rehinged). 20th-century oxblood Jansenist morocco, edges particolored (light wear at extremities).