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Description: The First Modern Attempt to Analyze Human Knowledge [LOCKE, John]. An Essay Concerning Humane [Human] Understanding. In Four Books. London: Printed [by Elizabeth Holt] for Tho. Basset, and sold by Edw. Mory, 1690. First edition title-page containing the inverted "SS" of "Essay," the type ornament composed of twenty-three pieces, and without Elizabeth Holt's name in the imprint. With the dedication undated, and with the errata uncorrected. It was once thought that the Holt imprint was the priority but recent studies have noted that the priority cannot be established. In his introduction to the Clarendon Press edition of the"Essay", Peter Nidditch changes his former opinion that the Holt imprint is the first issue and John Attig's bibliography records it as a varient. Folio (12 5/8 x 7 7/8 inches; 320 x 200 mm.). [12], 362, [22, Contents] pp. Pages 287, 296, and 303 misnumbered 269, 294, and 230 respectively. Contemporary brown mottled calf. Boards ruled in blind. Spine in six compartments, lettered in gilt on brown calf spine label. Edges speckled red. Expertly rebacked to style with corners repaired. Title page is short at the fore-edge by half an inch due to the stub being turned behind A4. Marginal paper flaws on D1, P 3 and Dd3, not affecting text. Very small marginal hole on Hh, not affecting text. The errata are corrected by a contemporary hand with ink and there are two contemporary ink notes on the back free endpaper. Locke's name is written in a contemporary hand on the title page as "IOHN LOCK: Gent:" Previous owner's name Brockett on the back pastedown. Previous owner's name Samuel Gaskell on the top margin of title page and previous owner's name Roger Gaskell dated 1813 on front free endpaper. A very clean and crisp copy in an excellent contemporary binding. Locke (1632-1704), considered the father of English empiricism, "was the first to take up the challenge of Bacon and to attempt to estimate critically the certainty and the adequacy of human knowledge when confronted with God and the universe. In the past, similar enquiries had been vitiated by the human propensity to extend them beyond the range of human understanding, and to invent causes for what it cannot explain. Therefore, Locke's first task was to ascertain âthe original certainty and extent of human knowledge' and, excluding âthe physical consideration of the mind, to show how far it can comprehend the universe'. His conclusion is that though knowledge must necessarily fall short of complete comprehension, it can at least be âsufficient'; enough to convince us that we are not at the mercy of pure chance, and can to some extent control our own destiny" (Printing and the Mind of Man). Locke's investigation was continued by Hume and Kant. John Stuart Mill considered him to be the founder of the analytic philosophy of mind. Attig 228. Grolier, 100 English, 36. Grolier, Wither to Prior, 527. Pforzheimer 600. Printing and the Mind of Man 164. Wing L2739. HBS 64538. $32,500.
Seller: Heritage Book Shop, ABAA, Beverly Hills, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$90000.00 + shipping
Description: 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, 7¼" x 12¼" (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 "Underwandings" 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[ed] 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 ("Josp 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 leafs. Otherwise, a lovely copy of this important book. Comes in a custom pull-off case. PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.
Seller: Athena Rare Books ABAA, Fairfield, CT, U.S.A.