PBA Galleries

[40], 407, [12], [1] ad pp. Frontispiece engraved portrait by P. Vanderbanck after Sylvester Brounower. (Folio) 30.7x19.3 cm. (12x7½"), modern paneled calf in period style, all edges speckled red, pages washed. Third Edition.

Fine copy of Locke's Essay on Human Understanding - the third edition, reprinting the substantially revised second edition of the prior year. It is in this work that Locke (1632-1704) lays the foundations of British empiricism and the concept of the mind as a tabula rasa. "Locke summed up the Enlightenment in his belief in the middle class and its right to freedom of conscience and right to property, in his faith in science, and in his confidence in the goodness of humanity. His influence upon philosophy and political theory has been incalculable" (Columbia Encyclopedia). Wing L2741; PMM 164 (for first edition); Yolton 63.