# Is "Ethica (in Opera Posthuma)" by Baruch Spinoza a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Ethica (in Opera Posthuma) by Baruch Spinoza (Printed by Israël de Paull for Jan Rieuwertsz, Amsterdam, 1677) is identified by: The defining point is what the title page does NOT say: it reads "B.d.S. The Latin Opera Posthuma (1677) is the true first of the Ethics and the original-language text.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Quarto, 1677
- The defining point is what the title page does NOT say: it reads "B.d.S. Opera Posthuma, Quorum series post Praefationem exhibetur" with a woodcut device and the date MDCLXXVII, but names no author beyond the initials B.d.S., and gives no place of printing and no printer or bookseller
- The Amsterdam / Jan Rieuwertsz attribution is bibliographic, not printed — bibliographical research (Jagersma, Quaerendo 43
- Van de Ven, Printing Spinoza) identifies the Amsterdam printer Israël de Paull working for Jan Rieuwertsz the elder
- Contents in one volume: Jarig Jelles's unsigned Praefatio, then Ethica ordine geometrico demonstrata (first appearance in print), Tractatus politicus, Tractatus de intellectus emendatione, the Epistolae with the author's replies, and the separately paginated Compendium grammatices linguae Hebraeae; dealer collations run approximately [40], 614, [32]; [2], 112, [8] pp., with contents and errata leaves at the end
- Van de Ven records the volume in ordinary-paper and large-paper states
- Publisher imprint reads Printed by Israël de Paull for Jan Rieuwertsz, Amsterdam

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Baruch Spinoza |
| Publisher | Printed by Israël de Paull for Jan Rieuwertsz, Amsterdam |
| Year | 1677 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Quarto, 1677 |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Quarto, 1677. The defining point is what the title page does NOT say: it reads "B.d.S. Opera Posthuma, Quorum series post Praefationem exhibetur" with a woodcut device and the date MDCLXXVII, but names no author beyond the initials B.d.S., and gives no place of printing and no printer or bookseller. The Amsterdam / Jan Rieuwertsz attribution is bibliographic, not printed — bibliographical research (Jagersma, Quaerendo 43; Van de Ven, Printing Spinoza) identifies the Amsterdam printer Israël de Paull working for Jan Rieuwertsz the elder. Contents in one volume: Jarig Jelles's unsigned Praefatio, then Ethica ordine geometrico demonstrata (first appearance in print), Tractatus politicus, Tractatus de intellectus emendatione, the Epistolae with the author's replies, and the separately paginated Compendium grammatices linguae Hebraeae; dealer collations run approximately [40], 614, [32]; [2], 112, [8] pp., with contents and errata leaves at the end. Van de Ven records the volume in ordinary-paper and large-paper states. No portrait leaf appears in the standard collation, so an engraved Spinoza portrait found bound in should be treated as a later insertion until proven otherwise. Identification only — no valuation is offered here.

## Is this the true first?
The Latin Opera Posthuma (1677) is the true first of the Ethics and the original-language text. Its Dutch twin, De Nagelate Schriften van B.d.S. (1677), was prepared by the same circle and printed for the same bookseller and appeared alongside it; both are dated 1677 and both are collected — the Latin as the original, the Dutch as the first edition in Dutch. There is no contemporary English edition: the Ethics reached print in English only in the 1880s, with W. Hale White's Ethic (London: Trübner, 1883) the first published English translation and R.H.M. Elwes's version in The Chief Works of Benedict de Spinoza vol. II (London: George Bell & Sons, 1883–84) close behind. George Eliot's 1856 English rendering stayed unpublished for well over a century, so it is not a print precedent.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club tradition exists for this title. The realistic look-alikes are later collected editions of Spinoza's works and 20th-century photographic reprints of the 1677 sheets, plus the many modern English translations of the Ethics. Any volume whose title page carries a printed place or publisher, a date other than MDCLXXVII, an author's name spelled out rather than the initials B.d.S., or English text, is not the 1677 Opera Posthuma.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Ethica (in Opera Posthuma)* by Baruch Spinoza a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/ethica-in-opera-posthuma
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.