LOCKE (John).
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.
A gorgeous copy of this early nineteenth century edition of Locke’s philosophical masterpiece, originally published in 1689, in very striking contemporary bindings.
“Locke was the first to take up the challenge of Francis Bacon and to attempt to estimate critically the certainty and the adequacy of human knowledge when confronted with God and the universe” (PMM). Locke’s conclusion—that while man can never attain a perfect and universal understanding of the world, he can gain sufficient knowledge to secure his own well being—became a touchstone for the Age of Enlightenment. With the Essay Locke initiated the criticism of human knowledge and further opened the discourse on free inquiry.
The publisher of the present edition, Thomas Tegg, also published an edition of Locke’s complete Works in the same year.
