Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. By Noam Chomsky. First Edition, First Printing. MIT Press. Cambridge, 1965.

Noam Chomsky is one of the most influential scholars, philosophers, and social critics of the last 100 years. He made major contributions to linguistic theory in the mid-to-late twentieth century, establishing concepts like universal and generative grammar which seek to explain the inherent and essential aspects of grammatical systems. In this volume, Aspects of the Theory of Syntax, Chomsky addresses transformational generative grammar in what is considered his major elaboration on his first book, Syntactic Structures. In its longer format, Aspects of the Theory of Syntax bolsters Chomsky’s arguments through four sections–Methodological Preliminaries, Categories and Relations in Syntactic Theory, Deep Structures and Grammatical Transformations, and Some Residual Problems. The work has been hugely influential since its publication in 1965. It has impacted everything from linguistics to psychology, philosophy to computer science. It remains one of Chomsky’s most technical and important publications.

This first edition, first printing is in very good condition. In the original cloth, very good with only bumping and rubbing. Text block near-fine, only former owner stamp to front pastedown and occasional pencil underlining to text. In the original dust jacket, very good with only minor rubbing, chipping, and closed tears to edges, and slightly faded spine. Price clipped.

A scarce first edition of this important early text by Noam Chomsky.