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GRIMKE, FREDERICK. 2-1/2 pp. 4to. ALS to Alexander St. Clair Boys. April 17, 1859. Chillicothe , Ohio. Folded with integral address and postmark. Small hole at wax seal, browned, ink, legible. $300.00

 

    Fine and important ALS containing contemporary comment concerning the work of historian Henry Thomas Buckle. Buckle, an English historian, was the author of History of Civilization In England, which adopted the ?��scientific method?�� of historiography. His work was controversial and was not generally complimentary of government;  a typical quote; "No great political improvement, no great reform, either legislative or executive, has ever been originated in any country by its rulers."

     In this letter Frederick Grimke (1791-1863), Yale attorney and member of the Ohio Supreme Court, writes to a colleague, Alexander St. Clair Boys (1817-1868), an Ohio State Representative, of  Hillsborough , Ohio . Referring to the first volume of Buckle?��s history published in 1857; ?��It is the most important work which the British mind has put forth since Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. It is the finest specimen of philosophical history extant, and will exercise a powerful influence, in entirely reforming the mode of writing history.?��

     Grimke goes on to say, "I think Mr. Buckle has committed a much greater error in the view he has taken of mental philosophy. His argument is the same as A Complis, and is one of the very few  weak passages in the work.?�� Grimke further comments on the consciousness of man which distinguishes him from the animal world. ?��We employ the faculties of compounding, obstructing, generalising & etc. but then presuppose reflex consciousness, and could make no advance without it. But as I remarked before, the work of Mr Buckle is the production of a very superior intellect, and his errors are very few."

     Grimke, the brother of the famous Abolitionist sisters. had in 1848, published his own history book, Considerations Upon the Nature and Tendency of Free Institutions, which explains a profound interest in such matters.