Ethics (Spinoza book)
Spinoza's Ethics is printed anonymously in the Opera Posthuma
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Original prompt & settings (JSON) ↗The first printed Ethics concealed its city, its publisher, and its author: readers saw only the initials 'B.d.S.'
A writing box out of The Hague
Within days of Spinoza's death in February 1677, his Amsterdam publisher Jan Rieuwertsz received a writing box holding the philosopher's unpublished works and correspondence. Spinoza's friends edited them for posthumous publication.
By December the Latin Opera Posthuma and its Dutch counterpart, De Nagelate Schriften, had been printed in Amsterdam — roughly 800 and 700 pages respectively.
Five works, no name
The Latin volume printed the Ethics for the first time, alongside the Political Treatise, the Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect, selected correspondence, and Spinoza's Hebrew grammar.
The title page identified the author only as 'B.d.S.' and omitted both Amsterdam and Rieuwertsz's name, as security precautions. Lodewijk Meyer helped prepare the Latin texts; Jarig Jelles wrote the preface.
1677, or 1678
Secretive distribution began in December 1677, though copies may not have reached readers until the end of that month or, more probably, January 1678. Because the publication was clandestine, no precise release day is documented.
On 28 January 1678 the Hague Reformed Church council recorded its alarm that the posthumous works had appeared in both Latin and Dutch.
Sources
Researched 24 Aug 2026 5 sources not yet audited Date disputed
How this was checked
Researched from the web into a fact sheet and rewritten from that sheet. This article has not yet had an independent model audit. How the pipeline works →
Date disputed. Sources disagree; the research places it at ~1677-12.
What the sources leave uncertain
- Both editions bear the imprint year 1677, and printing was complete by December, but recent bibliography concludes that copies first reached readers either in late December 1677 or, more probably, January 1678.
- Amsterdam and Rieuwertsz are established bibliographically; neither location nor publisher was printed on the original title page.
- Because publication was clandestine, no precise release day is securely documented.