GRACIÁN Y MORALES, Baltasar. The Courtiers Manual Oracle, or, The Art of Prudence. Written Originally in Spanish, by Baltazar Gracian. And now done into English. London: printed by M. Flesher, for Abel Swalle, at the Sign of the Unicorn, at the West-End of St. Paul’s, 1685. 8vo.
First English edition of Baltasar Gracián’s celebrated Oráculo manual y arte de prudencia (1647), one of the great works of European aphoristic and practical philosophy. Composed as a sequence of 300 maxims on judgement, self-command, reputation, social intelligence and the management of human affairs, the work has enjoyed a remarkably long afterlife. This first English version was translated through Amelot de la Houssaie’s French translation; Gracián’s work was later notably translated into German by Arthur Schopenhauer.
An evocative copy of the first English edition of one of the seventeenth century’s most enduring works of practical philosophy, retaining its contemporary boards and evidence of early ownership.
Provenance
An appealing early ownership inscription, “Theoph: Perebeau”, appears at the head of the title page, with “6d” in the upper margin. A further early manuscript inscription is visible along the fore-edge. The identity of the former owner remains untraced.
Size
18.5 × 12 cm.
Condition
Good; professionally conserved. Contemporary blind-ruled calf boards retained, heavily rubbed and abraded, with surface losses and wear to corners and edges. Sympathetically rebacked in calf and text block resewed, restoring structural stability while retaining the character of the original binding. The spine has been finished unobtrusively to harmonise with the surviving binding.
Early ownership inscription to title page and manuscript lettering to fore-edge. Some browning, light spotting and handling marks internally; marginal worming affecting approximately one third of the leaves, without material loss to the text. Text complete to p. 272.
Bibliographical Note
First English edition. A⁴, [a]⁸, [b]², B–S⁸; [28], 272 pp. The text of Gracián’s work is complete through p. 272. Lacking the two terminal advertisement leaves ([4] pp.).
References
Wing G1468; ESTC R6724; Palau 106941.
