The Spirit of Laws. Translated from the French of M. De Second At, Baron de Montesquieu. The Sixth Edition. - MONTESQUIEU (Charles Louis de Secondat), Barone de La Brède:

Edinburgh: Printed by A. Donaldson and Sold at his Shop, No. 48, East corner of St. Paul's Church-yard; and at Edinburgh. 1762. 2 volumes. 12mo, 170 x 100 mms., pp. [iv], xxiv, 396 [397 - 436]; xii, 454, with a note to the binder on the last page of the first volume to put the index in volume 1, contemporary calf, red leather labels; joints perished but held in place by early paper repair to hinges, text browned, binding somewhat worn and dried. This so-called "Third Edition" of a translation of Montesquieu's De l'Esprit des Loix was the first to be published by Donaldson and Reid; it was preceded by an edition publish in Aberdeen in 1756, and the text of the translation here is the same as the Aberdeen imprint. In fact, this translation is by Thomas Nugent (c. 1700 - 1772) and was first published in 1750; he probably was not entirely pleased to be ripped off by the Scottish pirates and having his translation published anonymously and without payment. Montesquieu is said to have admired the translation (Charles Dédéyan: Montesquieu ou les lumières d'Albion (1990), page 188. Nugent's translation was not superseded until the 20th century. MONTESQUIEU (Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu): The Spirit of Laws. Translated from the French of M. de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu. In Two Volumes. The Sixth Edition. Edinburgh: Printed for A. Donaldson, and sold at his Shop, No. 48, East corner of St. Paul's Church-yard, London; and at Edinburgh. M.DCC.LXXII [1772]. 2 volumes. 12mo, 170 x 100 mms., pp. [iv], xxiv, 396 [397 - 436]; xii, 454, with a note to the binder on the last page of the first volume to put the index in volume 1, contemporary calf, red leather labels; joints perished but held in place by early paper repair to hinges, text browned, binding somewhat worn and dried. With several ownership inscriptions and markings, including the signature "Jno. Pintard", i.e. John Pintard, on title-page of the first volume, with acquisition date below, and Pintard's signature again on title-page of second volume; and "G S Silliman", plus elsewhere the simple possessive proper noun, "Silliman's"; additionally, there is the spare printed book-label of "B. Silliman", with rectangular ornamental border. [9950] £1500 Montesquieu's treatise The Spirit of Laws was essential reading for many a forefather and foremother of the United States in the eighteenth century. It is extraordinary to see three important forefathers of early America having owned this particular copy of Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws (Edinburgh, 1772). Their ownership of the text is all the more interesting because at least two (the Sillimans) had an early education in law, although in every case they are remembered primarily for accomplishments above and beyond the field of law. John Pintard (1759-1844) was an extremely wealthy philanthropist and merchant, and is known, among other things, for founding the New York Historical Society, and as the "father" of Santa Claus in America: Pintard established "the modern popular conception of Santa Claus based upon the Dutch legend of Sinterklaas", even "proposing St. Nicholas as the patron saint of New York City" as well as "Patron Saint of his newly established New York Historical Society" (Wikipedia). If you dislike the bobblehead Santa Claus that your youngest son insists you put on the dashboard of your car in December, you can blame John Pintard. Pintard became a student at the College of New Jersey (later Princeton) when very young: "At the early age of thirteen, the precocious young scholar entered Princeton, being presented to President Witherspoon by Richard Stockton. Among his college friends and classmates were such distinguished characters as James A. Bayard, Gunning Bedford, Jonathan Dayton, Andrew Kirkpatrick, Brockholst Livingston, and James Madison, fourth President of the United States. Although the youngest of his class, Pintard was among its best scholars, and always a favorite with Dr. Witherspoon. He writes, 'Towards the close of my college career at Princeton during the eventful year, 1776, my mind was thoroughly imbued with the principles of Liberty. The example of Dr. Witherspoon gave a tone to the students, myself in particular.' At this time almost the entire college was ready to enlist, and Pintard marched with the first Company, commanded by William C. Houston, Professor of Mathematics" (James Grant Wilson, John Pintard, Founder of the New York Historical Society [1902], pp. 14-15). After military service, Pintard returned to Princeton, where he "received the degree of A.B. in 1776" (Wikipedia). The signature of John Pintard varied somewhat throughout his life, but is often highly recognizable nonetheless. The Oregon Historical Society holds a two-page letter that they identify as written by John Pintard (1759-1844) to Joseph Barrell (1739-1804), which they have digitized in full (). Clicking on the image provided by the OHS and scrolling down to the foot of the second page of the MS letter, one can see a signature of Pintard's that has several traits in common with the signature of the title-page of the first volume of Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws: to give two examples, one can see the uncommonly long crossbar of the "t" in the surname "Pintard", and the unusually dotted "i" in the surname, where the dot is positioned not actually over the stem of the "i" but instead lazily floats over the adjacent "n" (). The "G S Silliman" of the inscriptions is the famous Connecticut general Gold Selleck Silliman (1732-1790), who commanded a unit in 1776 that "joined George Washington's forces in New York in early July as part of the Continental army", and he subsequently "served with distinction at the battle of White Plains" (American National Biography online). The youngest of his sons, Benjamin Silliman (1779-1864), became "Yale's first professor of chemistry and an influential figure in the development of American science during the early nineteenth century" (American National Biography online, ). Katherine Hewitt Cummin's biography, Connecticut Militia General: Gold Selleck Silliman, came out in 1979. The extremely rare "B. Silliman" printed book-label is that of Gold Selleck Silliman's son Benjamin Silliman (1779-1864). I have found two examples of such a "B. Silliman" book-label at the Beinecke, each identified as that of the famous chemist, though both books are much later, as they date from the 1820s and 1830s (, ). There is a notable Princetonian thread in the earliest phase of the career of Benjamin Silliman: When "Yale's president, Timothy Dwight, was convinced that chemistry and natural philosophy should be part of the curriculum and induced Silliman to abandon the practice of law and to teach chemistry and natural philosophy", Silliman found a mentor in "John Maclean of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton)", who "informed him of the most important works in chemistry to be read and instructed him in the art of teaching chemistry" (ANB online). The 394-page biography of Benjamin Silliman by Chandos Michael Brown from 1990 has recently been re-issued by Princeton University Press, whose site describes Silliman as follows: "Poet, essayist, chemist, geologist, educator, entrepreneur, publisher -- Benjamin Silliman (1779-1864) was one of the virtuosi of the Early Republic and a founder of the American scientific community" (). While the connection between two of the owners of this volume, Gold Selleck Silliman and Benjamin Silliman, is plain, being that of father to son, is there a connection between Pintard and the Sillimans? The closest I have come to sussing out a possible connection of note is on a single page in the inaugural report of the American Bible Society in 1817: all three, "John Pintard", "Gold S. Silliman", and "B. Silliman", appear on p. 34, listed as having given five dollars to the society in the year 1817. Elsewhere, Pintard is also listed as "Recording Secretary and Accountant" of the society, in a roster of the society's main officers (First Annual Report of the Board of Managers of the American Bible Society, Presented May 8, 1817 [New York, 1817], p. 3). Moreover, in annotations to Pintard's correspondence with Thomas Jefferson, the online editors claim Pintard was actually one of the founders of the American Bible Society (). Even as a printed book, apart from provenance, the present edition of Montesquieu's Spirit of Laws is notably scarce. ESTC T121151 finds only three copies in the British Isles: British Library, Cambridge, and the National Library of Scotland. In North America, ESTC finds two copies in Canada (McGill and Toronto), then six libraries in the United States, with one of them, Harvard, holding three copies: Boston Athenaeum, Cornell, Harvard, Oberlin, UCLA, and Notre Dame.

MONTESQUIEU (Charles Louis de Secondat), Barone de La Brède: - The Spirit of Laws. Translated from the French of M. De Second At, Baron de Montesquieu. The Sixth Edition.