Considerations upon the Reputation, Loyalty, Manners & Religion, of Thomas Hobbes of Malmsbury.: Written by himself, By way of Letter to a Learned Person.

London: Printed for William Crooke,, 1680. A colourful example of the author's post-Leviathan public relations Second edition, originally published in 1662 as Mr. Hobbes Considered in his Loyalty, Religion, Reputation, and Manners. This copy of Hobbes's defence of his conduct during the Civil War bears the 1680 ownership inscription of "Godfrey Bosvile", presumably the Bosvile (b. 1650), whose grandfather served as a colonel in the Parliamentary army. The "Learned Person" in question was Dr. John Wallis (1616-1703), the Oxford mathematician and cryptographer. In 1655, Wallis criticised Hobbes's amateurish attempts at geometrical proofs in De Corpore, but the resulting dispute, lasting for more than 20 years, centred more on their religious politics than their mathematical capabilities. In particular, Hobbes regarded Wallis as a supporter and representative of presbyterian worship. In a 1662 work, Wallis charged that Hobbes had betrayed the King by writing Leviathan in support of Cromwell's Protectorate. Hobbes's catty rejoinder is to observe that, during the war in question, Wallis employed his considerable mathematical talents to decipher Royalist correspondence captured at Naseby. Wallis, it has been widely noted, made no further reply. Although William Crooke re-issued several of Hobbes's works with cancel title pages in 1680, this is a distinct edition, with revised signatures, corrections to the the text, and a five-page preface and a nine-page catalogue from Crooke. Provenance: "Godfrey Bosvile", with his ink signature (dated 1680) and cost price on the front free endpaper. This is probably the Godfrey Bosvile (born 1650) whose grandfather, also Godfrey (1596-1658), was MP for Warwick and served as a colonel in the Parliamentary army during the Civil War. Howard & Linda Knohl, with the 20th-century bookplate of the Fox Pointe Manor library on the front pastedown. Octavo (170 x 108 mm). Contemporary sheep, spine ruled, lettered, and with red morocco label in gilt, covers panelled in blind, marbled edges. With 9-page bookseller's catalogue at end. Light bumping and wear, front joint cracked but holding firm, loss to lower spine end, faint browning and marking to endpapers and contents: a very good copy. Macdonald & Hargreaves 64.