Acclaimed writer and historian Noel Malcolm presents his sensational discovery of a new work by Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679): a propaganda pamphlet on behalf of the Habsburg side in the Thirty Years' War, translated by Hobbes from a Latin original. Malcolm's book explores a fascinating episode in seventeenth-century history, illuminating both the practice of early modern propaganda and the theory of "reason of state".

Preface A Note on Dates and Transcriptions 1. Hobbes's Early Career 2. The Translation: Authorship, Date, and Style 3. The 'Secretissima instructio' Texts 4. The Distribution of the Altera secretissima instructio in England 5. Palatine Politics: Cavendish, Mansfield, and Hobbes 6. 'Reason of State' and Hobbes Hobbes's translation of Altera secretissima instructio Altera secretissima instructio List of Manuscripts Bibliography

Noel Malcolm , Senior Research Fellow, All Souls College, Oxford