LOCKE, JohnBiblio.com
An Abridgment of Mr. Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding
1794réf. 51002Boston: Manning & Loring 1794. Hardcover. 16mo. Full calf with gilt spine rules and gilt-lettered burgundy calf spine label. viii 250pp. Good. Binding edgeworn and scuffed with tiny chips at spine head and spine lettering rubbed; text block tight but moderately and irregularly age toned with endpapers and preliminary leaves more so; front endpaper rough and a bit chipped at outer edge; contemporary ownership signature at head of title page and at bottom a small convent inkstamp. Decent copy of the first American edition of the best-known and groundbreaking 1690 work on grasping human knowledge by the Enlightenment thinker nicknamed the "father of liberalism" 1632-1704 as condensed with Locke's approval by British cleric John Wynne 1665-1743. This abridgment was first published in London in 1696 proving popular and going through many more editions throughout the 18th century. Not until 1794 did the U.S. see its first edition. Front pastedown bears early bookplate ca. 1800 of Rice Jones and below it a 1947 gift inscription to the convent whose inkstamp appears at bottom of title page. Manning & Loring hardcover
