Fine copy of Locke's Essay on Human Undernstading--the second, substantially revised edition. It is in this work that Locke (1632-1704) lays the foundations of British empiricism and the concept of the mind as a tabula rasa. "Locke summed up the Enlightenment in his belief in the middle class and its right to freedom of conscience and right to property, in his faith in science, and in his confidence in the goodness of humanity. His influence upon philosophy and political theory has been incalculable" (Columbia Encyclopedia). The additions to this new edition total about 60 pages and this is the first appearance of the frontispiece portrait (indicative of the celebrity Locke acquired with the publication of the first edition in 1690). "When Thomas Basset was running out of copies of the first edition in February 1693, he signed a contract with Locke to pay him ten shillings per sheet for additional materials for a new printing. These additions included an expansion of Book I, Chap. IV; the chapter on power was almost entirely new; a new chapter, 'Of Identity and Diversity', was inserted as 2.27, making chapters 27-31 to be renumbered as 2.28-32; and a discussion was added to 2.9.8. Other numerous additions were made throughout, sectional summaries added in the margins, and an analytical index supplied" (Yolton). This copy with armorial bookplate of Westport House. Wing L2740. Yolton 62B.