Volume 8 2027: Locke in Print and Manuscript

By J. C. Walmsley

 

Locke in Print and Manuscript brings together a series of studies examining aspects of John Locke’s intellectual development through the material evidence of books, editions, and manuscripts.

Drawing on close analysis of primary sources—printed texts, annotated copies, autograph manuscripts and sale catalogues—this collection seeks to refine our understanding of how Locke wrote, revised, and circulated his ideas across his lifetime and how Locke’s works were edited and updated after his death.

Part I, ‘Editions and Alterations of the Essay concerning Human Understanding’, focuses on the complex textual history of Locke’s most influential work. These articles trace Locke’s printing of alterations of the changes made in the second and fourth editions, Locke’s role in the translation and correction of the French Essai Philosophique Concernant l’Entendement Humain, and the circumstances surrounding the publication of the Essay’s posthumous fifth edition. Special attention is given to the later editorial traditions of the Essay, most notably through a study of Anthony Collins’s annotated copy of the fifth edition.

Part II, ‘Locke, Books and Manuscripts’, focuses on key aspects of Locke’s intellectual life. Articles reconstruct Locke’s early book purchases at Westminster and Oxford, examine the scope of the pamphlet collection within his library, and present recent updates to the records of Locke’s books. A newly identified manuscript is introduced and contextualised, while a concluding study of the books and manuscripts of John Locke Senior, co-authored with Geoff Kemp, situates Locke’s intellectual life within the context of his family.

Together, these studies of newly identified print and manuscript evidence deepen our understanding of Locke as a reader, thinker, author and editor, and offer new perspectives on the formation and transmission of early modern philosophy.