A Fine Collection of American Literature and History

London: Printed for Awnsham and John Churchill, 1694. The Second Edition Corrected. 12mo. (viii), 358, (2) (ads) pp. Quarter brown calf over marbled paper-covered boards, red and green morocco spine labels, stamped in gilt; all edges trimmed; small repair at top of title-page; scattered light foxing to text; scattered, likely contemporary, marginalia. ESTC R867; Laslett 2

A rare second edition of John Locke's classic text on civil society and the nature of government. First published in 1689, the first part of Locke's work is a refutation of Robert Filmer's 1680 work defending the divine right of kings, Patriarcha, while the second part delineates Locke's influential ideas regarding the origin and purposes of civil government. Locke's argument that men are by nature free and equal, and that people have the right to life, liberty, and property, would prove very influential for the intellectual foundations of the American and French Revolutions.

A handsome edition of this foundational text of political philosophy.