[SWEDENBORG]. Oetinger, Friederich Christoph.

Swedenborgs und anderer irrdische [irdische] und himmlische Philosophie, zur Prüfung des Besten ans Licht gestellt von . . . [Bound with the second part:] Der Irrdischen und himmlischen Philosophie, Zweyter Theil. Worinnen 1. Swedenborgs. 2. Malebranche. 3. Newtons. 4. Cluvers. 5. Wolfens. 6. Ploucquets. 7. Baglius. 8. Frickers irrdische Philosophie mit Ezechiels himmlischer Philosophie verglichen wird.

Franckfurt und Leipzig: [Oetinger], 1765. First edition of the second part, and likely the first (but unestablished) edition of two contemporary editions of the first part. 2 vols in 1, 8vo (scant 7 x 4.38 inches), contemporary half sheep and sprinkled boards, [8], 248; [i-vi], [3]-397, [1] pages, edges of the text block lightly marbled in red. Separate title page for the second part, as published, each title page dated 1765. With a contemporary manuscript leaf bound in the rear in which a contemporary reader has cited the specific textual parallels to main themes of Swedenborg with the pages where it has been found in Oetinger’s translation. Board edges, corners and spine rubbed, with a discreet but ill-advised clear tape repair to the foot of the spine; evidence of a stub just before the title page, suggesting excision of a leaf; some light foxing; a good, sound copy. Item #20309

In the first part, the pietist clergyman Oetinger translates into German substantial portions of Swedenborg’s Arcana coelestia; the second part examines the esoteric thought of such figures as Cluver, Newton, Fricker, etc., with some reference to electricity. Despite the imprint, Oetinger published the book himself (with some outside financial assistance) while he was based in Herrenberg, and had it printed in Tübingen by Johann David Bauhof and Maria Barbara Franck, “verwitweter Pflick, geborener Schaber” (Weyer-Menkhoff & Breymayer #87). The reason for this discretion became clear after Oetinger was censured by the Consistory of Wurttemburg in March 1766 for publishing Swedenborg’s heterodox work, and the publication was ordered confiscated (see Sigstedt, The Swedenborg Epic; see below for the effect this had on the second edition). Weyer-Menkhoff and Breymeyer note a more or less hidden second edition of the first part, published in three or four hundred copies as a hedge against suppression, and distinguished from the first by a smaller title-page vignette: “Diese zweite Ausgabe von Teil 1 unterscheidet sich lediglich die kleinere Vignette auf dem Titelblatt des Teils 1 von dessen Erstausgabe. — Daß von der Druckerei [mindestens von Teil 1] eine zweite Ausgabe angefertigt wurde, bezeugt Oetinger in: Leben und Briefe, S. 687 (16 Mai 1766): ‘Es ist offenbar, daß [Johann David] Bauhof 3 bis 400 Exemplare nachgeschossen [. . .].’ Es ist denkbar, daß die nachträgliche Auflagenerhöhung nur bei Teil 1 als notwendig erschein: Dieser primär von Beschlagnahmung bedrohte Teil befaßte sich mit der Aufsehen und Antoß erregenden ‘himmlischen Philosophie’ Swedenborgs und fand möglicherweise mehr Absatz.” Without a copy to hand to compare vignettes, it is at least worth noting that the vignette to the title page of the first part here matches the dimensions of the vignette on the title page of the second part. Weyer-Menkhoff, Martin and Reinhard Breymayer. Die Werke Friedrich Christoph Oetingers: Chronologisch-systematische Bibliographie 1707-2014. Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter, 2015.

Price: $1,500.00