Leviathan

This is a critical edition of Hobbes's "Leviathan". By an analysis of the text, enabling a new printing history of "Leviathan" to be constructed, this edition demonstrates that the traditional picture is substantially wrong.

---

This is a critical edition of Hobbes's "Leviathan". Hobbes began writing "Leviathan" in Paris having fled there in 1640 as he saw the Civil War approaching. It was finished in early 1651 and sent to London to Hobbes's publisher, Andrew Crooke at the Green Dragon in St Paul's Churchyard. There are three editions all with the date 1651 and all three have Andrew Crooke as their printer. They are known as the "Head" edition, the "Bear" edition and the "Ornaments" edition - after the decorations on their title pages. Virtually all previous editions from that of 1750 (with the exception of that of Sir William Molesworth's "The English Works of Thomas Hobbes" of 1839) through to the editions of the late 20th century have taken the first edition of Leviathan of 1651 - the "Head" edition - to be definitive; from it, the subsequent editions are more or less wholly derived. The "Bear" and the "Ornaments" editions have been regarded as pirated editions, probably printed in Holland, and therefore unconnected with Hobbes himself.
By an analysis of the text, enabling a new printing history of "Leviathan" to be constructed, this edition demonstrates that the traditional picture is substantially wrong. Both the "Bear" and "Ornaments" editions contain corrections and changes by Hobbes himself and are therefore central to reconstructing his text. In their substantial introduction the editors examine all previous editions of Leviathan (as well as the manuscript copy prepared for Hobbes as a presentation copy for the King), throwing light on its history and calling into question the assumptions of previous editors. They thus provide an entirely new picture of its production. Schuhmann and Rogers also make full use of the Latin edition of Leviathan, published in 1668 when Hobbes was 80 years old. Through these new perspectives they are able to offer a complete critical edition to taking account of the publishing history and of Hobbes's own wishes.