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Russian Edition of Foundations of Philosophy of the Citizen (1776)

Семён Веницеев (translator) · 1776

A 1776 Russian translation of Hobbes's De Cive, held in a Russian regional museum library.

A Russian translation of Hobbes's De Cive, showing the spread of his ideas into Eastern Europe.

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Front cover of a worn brown leather-bound book with a paper library label reading Тагильский музей краеведения Библиотека, with shelfmarks ОРК Г57 and Редк. The label has handwritten and printed fields for chronicle, system, and number.
Hobbes, Foundations of Philosophy of the Citizen, Russian edition, Saint Petersburg/Moscow, 1776.

About this source

What it is

This is a worn, leather-bound 1776 Russian translation of Thomas Hobbes's De Cive, translated from Latin and printed in Saint Petersburg and Moscow. It is now held in the Tagil Museum of Local History library, as shown by the handwritten library label on its cover.

Why it matters

This book shows how Hobbes's political philosophy traveled far beyond England, reaching Russian readers more than a century after it was first written. Translations like this one helped spread Enlightenment ideas about government and citizenship across Europe.

Look closer

  • What does the library label tell us about how this book has been cared for over time?
  • Why might Hobbes's ideas have interested readers in Russia in the 1770s?
  • What does the physical condition of the book suggest about its age and use?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Thomas Hobbes on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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