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LOCKE, John.
An Essay concerning Humane Understanding.
In Four Books.
Publisher: London: by Eliz. Holt, for Thomas Basset, 1690
Stock code: 59203
Price: £45,000 Currency Conversion
First edition, the Holt issue (traditionally considered the first), with two emendations in the author's hand. Locke worked for nearly two decades on his investigation of "the certainty and the adequacy of human knowledge," concluding that "though knowledge must necessarily fall short of complete comprehension, it can at least be 'sufficient'; enough to convince us that we are not at the mercy of pure chance, and can to some extent control our own destiny" (PMM). The significance of his Essay was immediately recognized: it quickly ran to several editions and was popularized on the Continent by French translations. "Few books in the literature of philosophy have so widely represented the spirit of the age and country in which they appeared, or have so influenced opinion afterwards" (Fraser). This copy has two emendations in the author's hand: "certainly sensible" has been changed to "extreamly sensible" in the dedication (A3v), and the word "some" has been added to the sentence "Every step the Mind takes in its Progress towards Knowledge, makes [some] discovery..." in the Epistle to the Reader (A4r). These and other similar corrections by Locke occur in several copies (for example Isaac Newton's) and may indicate that a copy so emended was intended for presentation. This issue has the Elizabeth Holt imprint, and the "ss" of Essay correctly printed. An issue with a cancel title under the imprint of Thomas Basset, with the "ss" of Essay reversed, and with the typographical ornament unaligned is also known. Both issues have been championed as having priority, but recent scholarship indicates that priority of issue cannot be established: in his introduction to the Clarendon Press edition of the Essay, Peter Nidditch reverses his former opinion that the Holt imprint is the sign of a first issue, and John Attig's bibliography records it as a variant.
Folio (317 × 193 mm). Contemporary mottled calf, red morocco label, spine gilt in compartments with intersecting semicircles infilled with flower tools, etc. Occasional corrections in a contemporary hand; 19th-century bookplate of John Jackson, Warrington, presented to Warrington Museum, Oct. 1875, but without any other library marks. Extremities and joints skilfully restored, a little inoffensive soiling to title and early quires, endpapers replaced in the 19th century, a very good copy.
