[Paris] [and] Edinburgh: 1760; 1776. First editions. Two works bound together: Charles de Brosses' Du culte des dieux fétiches, ou Parallèle de l’ancienne religion de l'Egypte avec la religion actuelle de Nigritie (Paris, 1760) and James Lind's A Treatise on the Putrid and Remitting Marsh Fever (Edinburgh: Printed for C. Elliot, 1776). First editions. From the library of David Hume, with his bookplate to the verso of the half-title of the first work (Norton's State A). Also, with the signature of Hume’s brother, John (1709 – 1786), to the title-page (utilizing the traditional “Home” spelling of the surname). This copy is recorded in Norton's The David Hume Library (186).

Leaves measuring 90 x 155 mm. Both works collating complete: 287; 70 pp. Completely unrestored eighteenth-century dark brown polished calf, in Very Good condition overall. Red morocco spine label ("Tracts") nearly chipped away. Edges and spine rubbed and chipped. Upper hinge tender. Some toning to endpapers and edges of first and last few leaves. With one contemporary ink underline on p. 33 of the second work and nineteenth-century pencil ownership signature ("Wm. Wood") to preliminary blank of first work. Housed in a custom slipcase with chemise.

Books from the library of David Hume are rare in commerce. The present book is an extraordinary example for two reasons: first, the personal and professional relationships between Hume and the authors of both works; second, the certainty of the provenance. Hume and the theologian Charles de Brosses (1709 – 1777) corresponded during the 1760s, during which Hume praised Du culte des dieux fétiches (NLS MS.23154.5), and de Brosses presented a copy of his Traité de la formation mechanique des langues to Hume. Of equal importance is Hume’s connection to the Scottish naturalist James Lind (1736 – 1812), the “young protégé of Hume and the Edinburgh intellectual circle” (Greig, p. 193). Hume advocated for Lind professionally in the 1770s and even encouraged Benjamin Franklin to meet with Lind to discuss scientific matters in 1772 (Greig, pp. 193-4).

The confident identification of books from Hume’s library is fraught. Upon Hume's death in 1776, his library passed to his brother, John, and then into the possession of his nephew, Baron Hume, upon John’s death in 1786. Baron Hume then began to reproduce his uncle's bookplate and used the reproductions in his own collection for years (Norton, p. 16). However, Hume's correspondence with de Brosses indicates that he read this copy of Du culte des dieux fétiches, and Hume’s longstanding personal connection to Lind suggests that he read the Treatise as well. John's signature on the title-page also corroborates that the book belonged to Hume, then passed through John’s library before entering the possession of Baron Hume, rather than being independently purchased by the baron at a later date. Taken together, the evidence indicates that Hume personally owned, read, and engaged with this particular volume, which cannot be said for all books that apparently bear his bookplate.

Interestingly, the inclusion of Lind's Treatise, which was published in 1776, indicates that Hume had these two works bound together not long before his death. Though this may seem odd in light of his declining health, Hume was working and writing well into the summer of 1776, and even attempted to help Lind find employment in January of that year (Greig, p. 194). Given Hume’s continued interest in Lind, it is not unusual to think that Hume would have acquired his friend’s book – either through purchase or presentation – even as his health declined. Nor is it unusual that Hume, highly active even in the final months of his life, would have had the tract bound with another work for use and safekeeping in his library.

In Du culte des dieux fétiches, de Brosses coined the term “fetishism” (“fétichisme”) in regard to religious practice and “argued that fetishism was a universal phase of religious development: the oldest and most primitive form of religion, distinct from the later systems of polytheism and monotheism” (Leonard, p. 107). The work was deeply influenced by Hume’s Natural History of Religion (1757), which also addresses the concept of fetish worship and idolatry. Though the two authors diverged on the importance of this form of worship – it was central to de Brosses’ philosophy, while Hume discussed it only in passing – they both identified its unconscious, irrational nature (Leonard, p. 118). It seems unlikely that Hume felt the influence of de Brosses’ philosophy as strongly as de Brosses felt the influence of Hume’s, but the two men certainly had a professional relationship as theologians and an interest in each other’s work.

Lind’s A Treatise on the Putrid and Remitting Marsh Fever is an early work on malaria, which Lind first observed while working for the East India Company 1760s. Lind traveled the world as a naturalist and physician for decades. At the end of his career, however, he tutored Percy Shelley while he was at Eton. Shelley was so fascinated by Lind’s gruesome recollections of medical experimentation that he later repeated them to his paramour, the young Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin. The stories would eventually inspire Mary in her writing of Frankenstein (see Danson, Weighing the World).

Greig, J.Y.T., editor. New Letters of David Hume (1954).
Leonard, Daniel. “Fetishism and Figurism in Charles de Brosses’s Du culte des dieux fétiches.” Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture, Vol. 45, 2016, pp. 107-130.
Norton, David Fate. The David Hume Library, 186.
NLS MS.23154.5: A January 1764 letter in which de Brosses thanks Hume for "the flattering things which you were kind enough to say about my little work about Egypt..." Very Good (Item #8222)