Aristotle's Rhetoric;

£8,500 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

Wing A3695. First partially translated into English by Thomas Hobbes (c.1637) as A briefe of the art of rhetorique. Containing in substance all that Aristotle hath written in his three bookes of that subject, except onely what is not applicable to the English tongue. A very fine copy unsophisticated copy of the first complete translation of “the most important single work on persuasion ever written.” “Aristotle’s Rhetoric has had an unparalleled influence on the development of the art of rhetoric. In addition to Aristotle’s disciples and followers, the so-called Peripatetic philosophers, famous Roman teachers of rhetoric, such as Cicero and Quintilian, frequently used elements stemming from Aristotle’s rhetorical theory” (Stanford Encylopedia of Philosophy). Aristotle’s Rhetoric analyses and teaches the art of persuasion, not only in terms of how to construct a speech but also how to make a personal or emotive impression on the audience. The work is structured around three key elements sometimes referred to as the “rhetorical triangle”, namely: ‘ethos’, the character and presentation of the speaker; ‘pathos’, the emotional state or normative values of the listener; and ‘logos’, the message or substantive content of the argument itself. Insofar as the art of rhetoric is sometimes considered to be opposed to the philosophical ideal of the exact pursuit of truth, many of the philosophically salient features of the Aristotelian rhetoric have gone under-appreciated. “It was not un

• Year: 1686

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