The philosophy of war
Vom Kriege. In: Hinterlassene Werke des Generals Carl von Clausewitz über Krieg und Kriegsführung.
8vo (125 x 214 mm). 10 volumes. With two folding engraved maps and one folding table. Contemporary half calf, marbled boards, gilt title label to flat spines, numbered directly in gilt.
€ 48,000.00
The first edition of Clausewitz's writings on warfare: a complete set with all ten volumes, of which the first three include the first printing of "Vom Kriege", still today recognized "as the most profound exposition of the philosophy of war" (PMM). "Vom Kriege" "is less a manual of strategy and tactics … than a general inquiry into the interdependence of politics and warfare and the principles governing either or both. War, Clausewitz maintained, must always be regarded 'as a political instrument'; for war, his most famous aphorism runs, ‘is nothing but politics continued by different means'. His basic concept, that military decisions must always be subordinate to political considerations, is buttressed by the emphasis laid on morals and morale as the decisive factors in war" (PMM).
Rare in commerce: Rare Book Hub records only a single other complete set sold at auction within the last 70 years.
From the library of Vinzenz Ferrerius Friedrich von Bianchi, Duke of Casalanza (1768-1855), who served as Lieutenant Field Marshal during the Napoleonic Wars (no mark of ownership, but the shelfmarks of his Treviso library to the upper boards of each volume).
A fine set in uniform contemporary bindings.
PMM 297.
Related
-
Augustissimorum imperatorum, serenissimorum regum, atque archiducum, illustrissimorum …Innsbruck, 1601.
€ 15,000.00 -
Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Oekonomie. Erster Band. Buch I. Der …Hamburg, 1867.
€ 250,000.00 -
The art of warre, or militarie discourses [...]. Englished by J[ohn] C[ruso].Cambridge, 1642.
€ 6,500.00 -
Kapitalet. Kritik av den politiska ekonomin. I svensk översättning av …Stockholm, 1930-1931.
€ 4,500.00
