A Letter Concerning Toleration. The Second Edition Corrected; [bound with] A Second Letter concerning Toleration; [and] A Third Letter for Toleration, to the Author of the Third Letter concerning Toleration.

LOCKE, John.

Edité par London: [first:] Printed for Awnsham Churchill, 1690; [second & third:] Printed for Awnsham and John Churchill, 1690 & 1692

A propos de cet article

First editions of the Second and Third Letters, second edition in English of the First, collecting in a single volume all the works on toleration published by Locke in his lifetime. Following Louis XIV's revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, Locke was moved to publish views he had previously circulated only in manuscript. Although intended primarily for Christians, and particularly for dissenting Protestants, the three Letters outline a hugely influential conception of the proper relationship between government and religion. For Locke, the state cannot and should not compel individuals to adopt particular faiths. Churches are re-conceived as voluntary societies which can be joined or left without incurring civil penalties - subject to the concerns of civil society and foreign influence. Locke's original Epistola de tolerantia (1689) was swiftly translated into English by his friend William Popple, who was responsible for the phrase, often attributed to Locke himself, "Absolute Liberty, Just and True Liberty, Equal and Impartial Liberty, is the thing that we stand in need of" (p. [iv]). In April 1690, an Oxford clergyman disputed the Letter's rejection of force, which prompted Locke to reply that summer, under an assumed identity, with the Second Letter, and then, under his own identity, with the much longer Third Letter of 1692. A fourth was left in manuscript at Locke's death in 1702; it was first published in the Posthumous Works (1706). The first and second Letters bear the contemporary ink signature of Thomas Musgrave on their title pages. This is probably a member of the Musgrave family of Nettlecombe, Somerset, whom Locke knew well. William Musgrave (1655-1721) was a fellow member of the Royal Society, while Dr George Musgrave (d. 1721), a country physician, married the daughter of Edward Clarke, one of Locke's closest friends. Locke, himself a trained physician, knew George Musgrave well enough to write letters praising his medical skills: the latter returned the compliment by providing some of the first, admiring reviews of Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1694). The Somerset archives contain the 1723 will of one Thomas Musgrave of Nettlecombe. A similar hand, possibly that of Musgrave, has made a further annotation on the rear free endpaper verso. ESTC R21477; R5484; R5673; Printing and the Mind of Man, 163; Wing L2748, L2755, L2765; Yolton 4; 25; 27. See Sowerby 1338. 3 works bound in 1 vol., the first duodecimo (139 x 70 mm), the others quarto (205 x 142 mm); pp. [iv], 87, [5]; pp. [iv], 68; pp. [iv], 350, [2]. Contemporary panelled calf, edges sprinkled red. Joints and extremities restored, spot of wear to corners, light bumping, faint offsetting to several leaves, Third Letter with minor loss to upper outer corner of half-title and short closed tears to outer margins of Gg4 & Yy1, each just touching text: still a very good volume indeed.

N° de réf. du vendeur 187184

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: A Letter Concerning Toleration. The Second Edition Corrected; [bound with] A Second Letter concerning Toleration; [and] A Third Letter for Toleration, to the Author of the Third Letter concerning Toleration.
• Éditeur: London: [first:] Printed for Awnsham Churchill, 1690; [second & third:] Printed for Awnsham and John Churchill, 1690 & 1692
• Édition: Edition originale