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35 DESCARTES, Rene. The Passions of the Soule in Three Books. London: printed for A[ndrew]. C[rooke]. and are to be sold by J. Martin, and J. Ridley, 1650 the rare first appearance in english, in contemporary sheep First edition in English of Descartes’s last major philosophical treatise, “his fullest account of the interaction between soul and body, and his most significant contribution to moral philosophy” (Moriarty, p. xviii), rare in commerce, and especially so in an unrestored contemporary binding. Rare Book Hub records four copies at auction and only the Macclesfield copy in a contemporary binding. The Passions of the Soul , Descartes’s last lifetime publication, grew out of his correspondence with Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia during the 1640s. The work was first published in French in 1649. Drawing heavily on their discussion of mind- body duality and the then-unpublished Traité de l’homme , it makes the “essential distinction between the soul and the divinely-endowed seat of consciousness, will and rational thought, and the body as a machine or automaton subject to the laws of physics, and only indirectly controlled by the soul through the nerves” (Norman). Descartes locates the soul in the pineal gland, and for the first time uses the word “reflex” in connection with the action of the nervous system. “The first part
32 DAHL, Roald. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1964 with a signed slip, in the original dust jacket First edition, first issue, signed by the author on a slip pasted on the half-title. This is the author’s second book for children and, in the words of biographer Donald Sturrock, his “most famous children’s book”. The US edition precedes the UK edition by three years. Octavo. Original red cloth, spine lettered in gilt, front cover stamped in blind, yellow endpapers, top edge purple. With price-clipped dust jacket. Frontispiece and illustrations throughout by Joseph Schindelman. Child’s ownership inscription of one Rand Wilcox, dated 1968, on the front pastedown. Spine ends bumped, lettering to spine rubbed, fore edge faintly soiled, a very good copy in the like jacket, spine faded and rubbed, nicks to ends, scuffs to front panel. £3,750 [156297] 33 DAHL, Roald. Dirty Beasts. London: Jonathan Cape, 1983 inscribed by the author in celebration of a birthday First edition, inscribed by the author in the year of publication on the front free endpaper, “Happy birthday William, Love Roald Dahl. 6 July 1983”.
Quarto. Original illustrated boards, spine and front cover lettered in yellow, white, and red, yellow endpapers. No dust jacket issued. Full-page colour illustrations, black illustrations in the text. Spine sunned, covers and illustrations bright, bump to fore edge of boards with spot of wear, contents clean. A very good copy indeed. £1,375 [157200] 34 DAHL, Roald. Boy. London: Jonathan Cape, 1984 an inscribed copy First edition, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title, “To Dorothy Love Roald Dahl”. In his autobiographical collection of stories from childhood, Dahl includes his fondness for confectionery, his Norwegian ancestry, and his loathing for most schoolteachers. Octavo. Original blue boards, spine lettered in gilt, illustrated endpapers. With dust jacket. With black and white photographic illustrations throughout the text. Foot of spine slightly bumped, a near-fine and bright copy. Minor toning to dust jacket spine and top edge, diagonal crease within the laminate of the front panel, foxing to front flap, head and foot of spine very slightly rubbed, a very good example of an unclipped jacket. £2,750 [158498]
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