Locke, John

8vo (7 5/8 x 4 3/4 in.; 199 x 121 mm). Engraved frontispiece portrait of Locke by I. B. Cipriani, a few simple type-ornaments throughout; some scattered foxing, light browning to text block. Contemporary red morocco by John Matthewman for Thomas Hollis, the covers gilt with single-rule border and small central sun tool, the spine gilt-paneled in five compartments, the second and fourth lettered with title and author, the others with the sun tool, marbled endpapers, gilt edges; extremities lightly rubbed, spine a trifle darkened.

Jonathan Mayhew (presentation inscription from the publisher) — Peter Wainwright Jr. (by descent; bookplate). acquisition: Goodspeed's, 197

ESTC T147646; cf. W. H. Bond, Thomas Hollis of Lincoln's Inn: A Whig and his Books (Cambridge University Press, 1990); Rothschild Catalogue II, p. 751

8vo (7 5/8 x 4 3/4 in.; 199 x 121 mm). Engraved frontispiece portrait of Locke, a few simple type-ornaments throughout; some scattered foxing, light browning to text block. Contemporary red morocco by John Matthewman for Thomas Hollis, the covers gilt with single-rule border and small central sun tool, the spine gilt-paneled in five compartments, the second and fourth lettered with title and author, the others with the sun tool, marbled endpapers, gilt edges; extremities lightly rubbed, spine a trifle darkened.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

First printing of Hollis's edition of Locke, with a presentation inscription to Jonathan Mayhew, the Boston clergyman through whom Hollis made most of his gifts of books to Harvard College. Hollis's warm inscription appears on a front blank: "To Jonathan Mayhew DD of Boston in N. England an Assentor of Liberty civil and religious[. ] Thomas Hollis of Pall Mall London in sign of friendship June 4, 1764." On a further front blank Hollis has written a brief passage from Milton's "Lycidas," and on rear blank he provides an appropriate quotation from Thucydides: "Felicity is Freedom & Freedom is Magnanimity."

Locke's Two Treatises was one of the foundation stones of Hollis "Library of Liberty" and one of his favorite texts to distribute. On 23 June 1764, Hollis wrote to Mayhew that he was sending five copies of the work, one for Mayhew himself and the others to be sent by him to the libraries at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and the college at Bermuda, noting "If on inquiry at Boston, it should turn out, that there is no public library at Bermuda, as I suspect, then you are requested to present the parcel for that place to that society or friend whom you like best" (Francis Blackburne, Memoirs of Thomas Hollis, Esq., London, 1780, pp. 239–240). An evident twin of this binding, on another copy of the Locke, was sold by Doyle New York, 25 November 2013, lot 299. For two other Hollis-related works, see lots 933 and 974.