Books

Eliz. Holt for Thomas Basset, London, 1690. 1 blank leaf + TP + [i]-[iv] = The Epistle Dedicatory + [v]-[ix] = The Epistle to the Reader + [x] = Errata + 1-362 + [363]-[384] = Contents + 1 blank leaf, small Folio arranged as a Quarto, 7½" x 12½" (inner). First Edition, First Issue, (Yolton 61A). First edition, first issue - the title page listing Eliz. Holt, with the "SS" in "ESSAY" correctly printed and the thirty typographical ornaments. This copy has four of six possible misnumbered pages for this edition which Yolton notes appearing in "many copies of both issues, indiscriminately": 85 as 83, 287 as 269, 296 as 294 and 303 as 230 (in some copies 76 is 50 and 77 is 55). In addition, page 55 has the called-for misprint "Understandings" at the bottom of the page, and the Roman numerals for the chapter numbers reading incorrectly at the top of pages 57 and 263. Finally, page 90 has deleted the paragraph indicator "24." [See Jean S. Yolton, John Locke, A Descriptive Bibliography, Thoemmes Press, 1998, pp. 70 for details on these variations.] In his Introduction to the Clarendon Edition of the Essay [Oxford, 1975], Peter Nidditch "estimate[d] that about 900 copies of the First Edition were printed, by far the greater number of them belonging to the Holt issue." (Nidditch, pp. xviii-xix) while Yolton, citing this estimate, claims: "We do not know the number of copies printed; Peter Nidditch has estimated about 900 copies were published, chiefly of the Holt issue. But it is possible there were as few as 500." [Yolton, pp 69-70] Yolton, in her definitive bibliography, clearly identifies the Holt imprint as the "first edition, first issue" (pp. 67-8) and notes, "it is generally assumed that the Holt issue is the earlier because the title-page of the other, Mory, issue is a cancellans. I would assume that after all pages of the text had been printed, Basset came to some financial arrangement with Edward Mory to help sell it. Johnson has stated: "It is probable that Mory acquired his rights in the book only shortly before the advertisement in the London Gazette of 29 May 1690 which give his name as publisher" (p. 69). It should be noted that the book was printed in late November of 1689, and copies had been distributed to Locke as early as December 3, 1689 (p. 69). The seminal Essay addresses the foundation of human knowledge and understanding. Locke describes the mind at birth as a blank slate (tabula rasa, although he did not use those actual words) filled later through experience. The essay was the most important early source of empiricism in modern philosophy and influenced many enlightenment philosophers such as George Berkeley and David Hume. More than any other, this book set British philosophy on its subsequent empirical course. Printing and the Mind of Man 164. Full leather paneled boards with an elegant period rebacked spine with five raised bands and gilt lettering on a dark red field. Title page separated at the bottom 1½" and lightly soiled. There is a contemporary former owner's signature ("Joseph Brownridge's Book") in black ink surrounding the graphic device in the center of the title page. With some soiling and foxing to the first two leaves. Otherwise, a lovely copy of this important book. Comes in a custom pull-off case. PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding is a work by John Locke concerning the foundation of human knowledge and understanding. It first appeared in 1690.