Ueber den Willen in der Natur. Eine Erörterung der Bestätigungen, welche die Philosophie des Verfassers, seit ihrem Auftreten, durch die empirischen Wissenschaften erhalten hat.

£15,000 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

A presentation copy of Schopenhauer’s On the Will in Nature , sent by Schopenhauer to his “apostle” Johann August Becker (1803-1881), as recorded in a letter from Schopenhauer to Becker dated ‘d. 3ten August 1844’, inscribed by Becker to the inside front cover: “Donum auctoris [‘Gift of the author’]. 3. Aug. 1844. - Becker”. Becker has additionally inscribed the inside front cover in black ink with long quotations from Schiller and Voltaire, along with a few ink annotations to inside rear cover with notes referencing specific page numbers, occasional neat pencilled underlining and marginal highlighting throughout, two pencilled manicules to pp. 40 87, and pencilled annotations to pp. 12, 19, 43, 69. “Johann August Becker was a lawyer in Alzey when he read Schopenhauer’s masterpiece The World as Will and Representation , and the forty-one-year-old was deeply moved by Schopenhauer’s darkly compelling worldview. … On 31 July 1844, the lawyer wrote to the philosopher in a respectful and careful manner, requesting permission to ask about some of the doubts he had with Schopenhauer’s philosophy. The philosopher was willing to entertain Becker’s doubts, but before doing so, he requested that Becker carefully read the second volume of essays of his principal work to see whether his “scruples” would disappear. He also sent a copy of On the Will in Nature , telling the younger man that it contained the clearest presentation of the essence of his philosophy … Through a series of letters

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.