London: by Eliz. Holt, for Thomas Basset, 1690. First edition. Folio (325 x 194 mm). 19th-century blue straight-grain morocco by Francis Bedford, spine lettered in gilt in second and third compartments, floral tool in other compartments, beaded gilt roll and rule to spine bands, triple gilt rule to turn-ins, marbled endpapers, edges gilt. Housed in a custom cloth slipcase. Contemporary correction in ink as usual for this issue: “certainly” on the last page of the “Epistle Dedicatory” corrected to “extremely”, and the word “some” inserted before “Discovery” on the first page of the “Epistle to the Reader”, possibly in Locke’s hand. Bookplate of artist and designer George Abraham Crawley (1864-1926) to front pastedown, and of 20th-century Maryland collector Charles MacGarvey to the front free endpaper. Tiny burn/ paper flaw holes to C2, D1, S4, 2A2, and 2I2 with some loss to individual letters but no impact on legibility, very skilful paper repairs by Bedford to S3, 2H4, and 2T3 (none affecting text), some minor spotting to title page else a very clean copy, elegantly bound and decently margined.

A monolith in the landscape of philosophical treatises, Locke was the first "to attempt to estimate critically the certainty and the adequacy of human knowledge when confronted with God and the universe," and concludes that man has a means of controlling his own destiny and is thus not the pure victim of chance (PMM 164). He advanced the concept of people born "tabula rasa," and filled through their lives by experiences. This concept formed the basis for the empiricist camp in modern philosophy, later expanded by Hume and Berkeley. "An Essay" was placed on the Catholic Index in 1700 for its controversial content, where it remains to this day (Height).

Attig 228; ESTC R22993; Garrison-Morton 4967; Grolier English 36; Grolier One Hundred 72; Pforzheimer 599 (in a Bedford binding matching this); Printing and the Mind of Man 164; Hook & Norman 1380; Wing L-2738; Yolton 61A. Near Fine (Item #5355)