Tractatus Theologico-Politicus

Lodewijk Meijer (Meyer); Benedictus de Spinoza; Baruch

N.P.: [Amsterdam] : [Jan Rieuwertsz], 1674

[The Origins of Secular Thought: Moral Philosophy Unbound from Religion]  Octavo, 162 x 102 mm.  2 parts in one volume. Bound in contemporary sheep, with gilt spine.   Rebacked and restored with new spine label. Scattered spotting.  Collated: [22], 334, [4]; [16], 182, [19] pages, including blanks Z3-4.   18th-century signatures of George Wycherley and Alexander Hatton of St. John's College, Cambridge, on front free endpaper.   

Van der Linde states that the text block was printed in 1673, while the title page was printed in 1674.  No publisher is listed because the work was banned in Holland, this edition was intended for distribution in England.  This work was censored for its dangerous ideas arguing for a philosophical interpretation of scripture.  "Spinoza's thought, a fusion of cartesian rationalism and the Hebraic tradition in which  he grew up, is a solitary but crystal-clear exposition of the theory of natural right. It is also the  forerunner of modern Biblical criticism." - Printing and the Mind of Man 153 (1670 original edition); Bamberger T3.E (this edition).