WITTGENSTEIN, Ludwig (1889-1951). Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, London, 1947, 8vo, original buckram. Provenance: "Kim" Philby (label). With two inscriptions ([?]to Philby) signed "B."

WITTGENSTEIN, Ludwig (1889-1951).  Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus ... With an Introduction by Bertrand Russell, F.R.S. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & So., Ltd, 1947. 8vo (223 x 133mm). Half title, parallel text in German and English, 8-pages of publisher's advertisements at the end (one leaf [pp.163/164] creased. Original dark blue buckram, the spine lettered in gilt (small white stain to the lower cover, without the dust-jacket). First published as part of the series "International Library of Psychology, Philosophy and Scientific Method" in 1922, this a third impression. Considered Wittgenstein's magnum opus, the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus was his only book-length work published during his lifetime. Provenance: H. A. R. PHILBY (label, i.e. Harold Adrian Russell Philby (1912-88, Intelligence officer and spy, better known as "Kim" Philby). The front free endpaper is inscribed in an unidentified hand, signing him or herself only with the initial "B": "March 1948. You have quoted this to me so often (p.189), that I thought it might be good for you to go so far as to read the book. Dear. B. 1948. P.S. What he says is true, in the deepest sense, but makes life impossible, in the deepest sense. P.P.S. How deep is your sense? B." On p.189 the same writer has bracketed proposition 6.54 and added the word, "Mercy!", and then underlined the final proposition, presumably the one referred to in the main inscription and arguably Wittgenstein's most famous epigram ("Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent"), and added beneath it, "Which Brindle thinks is terribly old-fashioned, Christian, & dull, & somehow rather vulgar, too. B." The book was probably a gift to Philby from the elusive "B". At the time of its inscription, Philby was working as head of British Intelligence in Istanbul, while possibly finding time to involve himself with other, unaffiliated, organisations, also involved in espionage.