First French edition of Spinoza's famous Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (1670), printed by Israel de Paull for Jan Riewertsz. Sr. in Amsterdam, but appearing with the false imprint of "Hamburg, Henricus Künrath". The original Latin edition is one of two works by Spinoza that originally appeared during his lifetime, the other work is his Principia philosophiae cartesianae (1663). The present French translation was published only a year after Spinoza's death in 1677 and was still so controversial that it was published without mentioning the author's name and with false imprints. Three issues of the first French edition are known, all three dated 1678 but with different titles and false imprints: 1: Reflexions curieuses d'un esprit des-interressé sur les matieres les plus importantes au salut, Leiden, Pierre Warnaer, 1678; 2: La clef du santuaire, Cologne, Claude Emanuel, 1678; and 3: the present work Traitté des ceremonies superstitieuses des juifs. In chapter 5 (pp. 200-255) of Van de Vens bibliography of Spinoza's works, the complicated printing history of the French translation is covered in detail; our issue has the number X3.
The translation, presumably launched by Spinozas Amsterdam publisher Jan Rieuwertsz Sr., is commonly attributed to a French Hugenot, Gabriel, Lord of Saint Glain (1620-1684) who had been a zealous Protestant before he came to know Spinoza. He grew into one of his disciples and one of his greatest admirers. He settled in The Hague about the same time when Spinoza moved to that same city where they could have met each other.
What makes this edition of the French translation extra important, also for the general Spinoza bibliography, is that it contains at the end the 31 "Adnotationes ad Tractatum theologico-politicus", here called "Remarques curieuses, et necessaires pour lIntelligence de ce livre" (pp. 1-30): notes clarifying obscurities in Spinozas book. The majority of these Adnotationes were composed by Spinoza himself, some were arguably made by others. The precise source(s) for these notes, which were unpublished until this French translation, are unknown. In the autumn of 1675, Spinoza was planning - as he wrote to his correspondent H. Oldenburg in London - a new edition of his Tractatus together with his Adnotationes, marginal notes to explain passages easily to be misinterpreted by critical readers, written in the margins of his copy of the first edition, (now lost). But there are more copies known (and lost) with a varying number of notes (31-39). If Saint Glain was indeed the translator of the Tractatus, this would indicate that he must have gotten hold of either Spinozas holograph or an apograph of the notes, whether or not written in de margins of a copy of the first Latin edition, probably through Jan Rieuwertsz who was, after the death of Spinoza, in the possession of his written legacy. It may even be speculated that Rieuwertsz himself did ask and commission Saint Glain to translate the Tractatus into French and to append the still unpublished Adnotationes in French.
With a manuscript inscription (initials?) on the verso of the first flyleaf, a crossed out manuscript owner's inscription (of Abraham Couet du Vivier (1646-1719), Hugenot pastor and author in The Hague) at the head of the title page, with the manuscript additions of the Latin title and "par Benedict. Spinosa" around the printed title in the same hand. The binding shows clear signs of wear, the front hinge is weakened, the corners of the boards are slightly damaged, the marbled endpapers are slightly rubbed and frayed, slight browning throughout. Otherwise in good condition. Akkerman, F., Introduction to his translation into Dutch (1997); Kingma/Offenberg, p. 15; STCN 840787480; USTC 1561976; Van der Linde, p. 12; Ven, J.M.M. van de, Printing Spinoza (Leiden, Brill, 2022), Chapter 5, pp. 200-255, nr. X3; cf. STCN 843272147 (other issues of this ed.).