David Hume

Published: 1741, 1742, 1756

Copytext: 1741, 1742, 1755, 1760, 1768

The first edition of Hume's Essays, Moral and Political contained eight essays that were later withdrawn from the Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary, Part 1 (as this collection would ultimately be called). These essays are collected together here, alongside the two unpublished essays Of Suicide and Of the Immortality of the Soul. These latter were printed in 1755, intended for what became the Four Dissertations of 1757, but Hume soon regretted the decision and had them removed, writing the essay Of the Standard of Taste to fill their place. A few copies of the 1755 print were circulated (against Hume's wishes), which therefore serves as our copytext. In preparing the critical text here, the copy held in the National Library of Scotland, containing several modifications in Hume's hand, was consulted.