Description
Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology
Jean-Paul Sartre
Translated by Hazel E. Barnes
Philosophical Library, New York, 1956
This is the First American Edition and the First English translation of Jean-Paul Sartre’s most influential and enduring philosophical work—an essential text of twentieth-century existentialism. Hazel E. Barnes’ translation is the classic English version used by generations of scholars and remains the standard today.
Our copy is distinguished by its near fine, bright dust jacket, beautifully preserved and now protected in a fresh Brodart archival cover. Jackets from this fragile Philosophical Library edition rarely survive in such strong condition.
Provenance: A former library copy, though exceptionally clean. No stamps, no pockets, no perforations, and no internal markings. Only a small remnant of a spine label (now removed) indicates institutional history. The book presents externally and internally as a private-copy example.
Why This Book Is Collectible:
First printings of Sartre’s magnum opus in English are scarce, and copies with such a well-preserved jacket are genuinely uncommon. This edition represents the foundational text of existentialist thought, and demand among collectors, scholars, and philosophy enthusiasts remains strong.
Condition:
Near fine dust jacket, bright and clean, with minimal wear; protected in new Brodart archival covering. Book is very good+ with tight binding and clean pages. A former library copy, though completely free of stamps, pockets, perforations, or internal institutional marks; presents externally and internally as a private copy. Only trace of provenance is the removed spine label. An unusually well-preserved example of this fragile and important first edition.
Edition: First Edition, First Printing (1956).
Binding: Hardcover with near fine original jacket in Brodart.
Pages: 798.
This edition deserves a place in any serious collection of philosophy, modern thought, or twentieth-century intellectual history.
