The Works of John Locke

"His works prepared the ground for action as well as thought." LOCKE, John. The Works of John Locke. London: Edmund Parker, et al., 1740. Three volumes. Folio (14"H x 9"W). Antique-style gilt-and blind-tooled paneled calf, raised bands, gilt-decorated spines, red morocco labels, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Fourth edition of John Locke's collected works, formally attaching Locke's name to important works which he had published anonymously. His influence on world leaders and thinkers undeniable, his works are hailed as groundbreaking in their elucidation of empiricism, revolutionary in their influence on 18th-century world affairs. With frontispiece portrait and memorial plate. A very handsome set. In his oft-quoted tribute to Locke, "The Father of British Empiricism," Voltaire writes, "Many a philosopher has written the tale of the soul's adventures, but now a sage has appeared who has, more modestly, written its history. Locke has developed human reason before men, as an excellent anatomist unfolds the mechanism of the human body. Aided everywhere by the torch of physics, he dares at times to affirm, but he also dares to doubt. Instead of collecting in one sweeping definition what we do not know, he explores by degrees what we desire to know" (Seymour-Smith, 245). First published in 1714, a decade after Locke's death, this collected edition of the philosopher's works includes his seminal Essay Concerning Human Understanding, "the first modern attempt" to specify the means of human knowledge; and his epoch-making Two Treatises of Government, "the basis of the principles of democracy" (PMM 193, 194). Between 1714 and 1759, Six 3-volume folio editions of Locke's collected Works appeared (with no textual changes until the fifth, 1751). All early folio editions have now become scarce. "Voltaire, Montesquieu and the French Encyclopedists found in Locke the philosophical, political, educational and moral basis that enabled them to prepare and advance the ideas which eventuated in the French Revolution. In America, his influence on Jonathan Edwards, Hamilton and Jefferson was decisive… His works prepared the ground for action as well as thought" (Edwards IV: 502). Occasional light browning to text, some damp-staining noted in volume I, light expert restoration to corners and joints. Paneled calf binding fine. An excellent copy of this desirable early folio edition. Book #vC1422. $2750. We specialize in Rare Ayn Rand, and other legends and landmarks.