Spinoza to the Letter

This is the first collection of Spinoza studies that deals exclusively with the language, style, and the transmission and editing of his texts. It includes investigations into the authorship of some minor texts, Spinoza’s Latinity, the Hebrew passages in the Tractatus theologico-politicus, his way of handling quotations and his use of the first person singular. It contains a full concordance of the Tractatus de intellectus emendatione, an inventory of the copies of Spinoza’s Posthumous Works in the Netherlands and an account of the editions produced in the nineteenth century. In addition, there are essays on the life and thought of Spinoza’s publisher Jan Rieuwertsz, on the question of who printed his books, and on principles and choices in editing.

Contributors include: Fokke Akkerman, Wout Jac. van Bekkum, Michelle Beyssade, Eugenio Canone, Johan Gerritsen, Iiro Kajanto, Jelle Kingma, Jacqueline Lagrée, J.H. Leopold, Clasina G. Manusov-Verhage, Filippo Mignini, Pierre-François Moreau, H.J.M. Nellen, Michael John Petry, Esmée Schilte, Hans Gerhard Senger, Piet Steenbakkers, Pina Totaro, and J.J.V.M. de Vet.

Fokke Akkerman, Ph.D. (1980) in Arts, University of Groningen, Associate Professor of Neo-Latin (retired). He has published on Neo-Latin, especially on Spinoza and early Dutch humanism.

Piet Steenbakkers, Ph.D. (1994) in Philosophy, University of Groningen, teaches History of Modern Philosophy in Utrecht University and University College Utrecht, and he holds the chair of Spinoza studies in the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Publications mainly on Spinoza.