WITTGENSTEIN, Ludwig, Zettel, edited by G.E.M. Anscombe and G.H. von Wright, translated by G.E.M. Anscombe (Basil Blackwell, Oxford), 1967 [first edition]

8vo; pp. v, 124 [but paginated once only for each facing page], [1]

The most unusual of Wittgenstein’s bibliographical challenges. ‘Zettel’ means ‘slips’, and was chosen to refer to “a box of slips cut from copies of the very extensive typescripts” left by Wittgenstein (Preface). These were evidently considered important – but what exactly was their significance or subject? The range of topics is remarkable. An early review lists, inter alia: “sense and meaning; understanding language; understanding music and poetry; pictures and understanding; thoughts; sudden thoughts; thinking while speaking; wordless thought; intentions; pretending and pretence; dreaming; imagining; expectation; colour words; seeing as and interpreting; causes and objects of emotion; imagination and sense; the infinite; understanding a rule; the agreement of thought and reality; training and agreement in judgment; the duration of mental states; consciousness; attention; knowing, believing and doubting; certainty and uncertainty in the language of sensation; pain; images; memory; orders; symptoms and criteria; propositions; falsity, negation and contradiction; understanding mathematical questions; calculation and proof; and grammar”.

Very good condition: dust-jacket chipped at the top and bottom, with a 5mm tear to the top edge; internally very good throughout.