Wood engraved vignette on title. 19 pp. Small 8vo (185 x 110 mm.), self-bound, uncut. Altdorf: Fr. X. Z’graggen, 1828.

First and only edition of this very rare pamphlet on freedom of the press by Geiger (1755-1843), a Catholic priest and professor of theology in Lucerne. In 1788, he conspired with the Marquis de Vérac to restore Louis XVI to the throne. After being dismissed from his professorship, Geiger became a journalist and wrote numerous polemical pieces on church history, Catholicism, and contemporary political issues, including free speech. He founded the Schweizerische Kirchenzeitung, a Catholic theological periodical, which began publication in 1832 and... More

Woodcut printer’s device of the golden compass on title. 119 pp. Small 8vo, 18th-cent. Belgian mottled calf (head of spine a little chipped, joints rubbed), sides gilt, spine gilt, red morocco lettering piece on spine (label partly flaked away). Antwerp: C. Plantin, 1570.

[as usual, bound after]:

PHILIP II, King of Spain. Philippi II. Regis Catholici Edictum De Librorum prohibitorum catalogo observando. Woodcut printer’s device of the golden compass on title. 8 unnumbered leaves. Antwerp: C. Plantin, 1570. More

36 pp. Small 8vo, modern boards. Berlin: “Im Verlag der Kōnigl. Preuss. akadem. Kunst- und Buchhandlung,” 1789.

First separate edition, originally published in the same year in the Berlinischen Journal für Aufklärung. This work was written in response to the newly enacted censorship edict, in which King Friedrich Wilhelm II ordered that all publications and other forms of printed material — including illustrations — be submitted to Prussian state censors for approval. Any critical statements of a political or religious nature were officially discouraged. These restrictions remained in force until the 1840s, with the accession of Friedrich Wilhelm IV to the... More