(ARISTOTLE) TAYLOR, Thomas. The Metaphysics of Aristotle, Translated from the Greek… To Which is Added, A Dissertation. London: Printed for the author by Davis, Wilks, and Taylor, 1801. Large quarto, period-style full marbled calf gilt, red morocco spine label, marbled endpapers.

First Edition of Aristotle's Metaphysics in English, [London, 1801]. Translated by Thomas Taylor, a leading English classicist of the day. "In his knowledge of Plato and Aristotle he has never been equaled by any Englishman, and he is still the most important disseminator of ancient philosophy in the history of English and American literature. Taylor went on to complete all the works of Aristotle, but his introduction and important Dissertation [which appear here] were not included in the Works (Axon, 11).

 "If there is a philosophical Atlas who carries the whole of Western civilization on his shoulders, it is Aristotle. He has been opposed, misinterpreted, misrepresented, and -- like an axiom -- used by his enemies in the very act of denying him. Whatever intellectual progress men have achieved rests on his achievements" (Rand, The Objectivist Newsletter, 1963). This "philosophical Atlas" was born in 384 B.C. in Stagira, an ancient Greek city in the northeastern region of modern Greece. At seventeen, Aristotle traveled to Athens to study at Plato's Academy. He remained at the Academy until Plato's death in 348 B.C. In 343 B.C., Aristotle was recruited to tutor King Alexander the III, revered as "Alexander the Great" for his formidable conquests throughout Europe and Asia. Later, he established his own school, The Lyceum, which instructed students in a breadth of branches from rhetoric and logic to philosophy and the natural sciences.

 The Metaphysics is one of the principal works of Aristotle and history's first major work on this fundamental branch of philosophy. Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy which studies existence as such, of "being qua being," according to Aristotle. It "identifies the nature of the universe as a whole. It tells men what kind of world they live in, and whether there is a supernatural dimension beyond it. It tells men whether they live in a world of solid entities, natural laws, absolute facts, or in a world of illusory fragments, unpredictable miracles, and ceaseless flux. It tells men whether the things they perceive by their senses and mind form a comprehensible reality, with which they can deal, or some kind of unreal appearance, which leaves them staring and helpless" (Peikoff, 23). 

"This edition contains some valuable matter by the translator, not reprinted in the ninth volume of his complete translation of Aristotle s Works" (Lowndes, 69). Complete with blank leaves and half-title. In near fine condition, no writings, markings or bookplates of any kind; wide margins, some scattered light foxing. A splendid example, handsomely bound. Book #Bv2422. $6200.