Kropotkin : Ethics Origin and Development [ First English Edition , Association Copy ]
$200
Out of stock
Description
First English Edition of Kropotkin ‘s Ethics : Origin and Development, formerly owned by an early Fox Films executive.
Kropotkin , Prince [Pyotr]. Ethics; Origin and Development. George G Harrap & Co. : London, Calcutta, Sydney. 1924. First English edition.
Returning to Russia in 1917 after 40 years in exile, Pyotr Kropotkin spent the last four years of his life in isolation at Dmitrov working on this unfinished treatise.
Described as “the swan song of the great humanitarian scientist and revolutionist-anarchist” by his translator and friend Nikolai Lebedev, his forward is crucial to understanding the text’s composition and place in Kropotkin’s oeuvre. A spiritual sibling to his classic of Naturalism and philosophy, Mutual Aid (1902) examining human and animal morality in essays from 1890-1896, the seed of Ethics took root in the same period, with Kropotkin ultimately deciding to devote two volumes to a historically and scientifically reasoned “human ethics”.
Having left his reference library in London, Kropotkin’s work on Ethics was delayed repeatedly by reliance on borrowed books, research by correspondence, and his failing health.
As published, Ethics makes up most of the first volume of the intended pair. Lebedev mentions his hope to finish the complete work from the notes and outlines Kropotkin left behind but pressure from the public and the author’s heirs have kept such attempts out of this first edition.
Despite Kropotkin’s wishes his final work was never finished, perhaps in part due to the suppression of his supporters in the USSR and the departure of his only child, Alexandra Kroptokin, for the United States in 1921. The latter’s influence is probably evident in the fact the author is credited here as “Prince Kropotkin” despite having famously disavowed his family title at age 12. By contrast, Alexandra Kropotkin began styling herself as “Princess” after her father’s death in part to ease her acclimation to the US. She remained a public conservative into the 1960s, supporting Barry Goldwater’s 1964 presidential candidacy.
This copy was owned by John H. Birkenhauer, early executive and Manila branch manager for Fox Films Corporation, purchased in Tokyo during his 1924 – 1925 tour of Japan, Shanghai, Australia, and more spreading early cinema to the Eastern Hemisphere.
8vo, 349pp, blue cloth boards with title, author, and publisher gilt. Small pin pockmark front board. Spine bruised. Wear to top, bottom, and front hinge edges. Some wear corners. Book block spotted. Ownership inscription, pen, front free endpaper. Pages clean. Binding tight. Very good condition.
If you liked this book, you might also like this French anarcho-syndicalist novel subtitled “How We Will Bring About The Revolution” with an introduction by Kropotkin.
