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This volume is the first of three which will contain all of Locke's extant writings on philosophy which relate to An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, other than those contained in volumes of the Clarendon Edition of John Locke such as the Correspondence. The book contains the two earliest known drafts of the Essay, both written in 1671, and provides for the first time an accurate version of Locke's text together with a record of virtually all his changes, in notes at the foot of each page.
List of contents
Introduction; Locke's Essay and its manuscript sources; The contents of drafts; The production of this volume; The manuscript sources of the texts; History of the manuscripts; Previous publications; The editorial principles of this edition; The text: Draft A; Draft B contents; Draft B; Appendices: Comparative table of draft A and the Essay; Comparative table of draft B and the Essay; The allograph copy of draft A; The editorial method of Peter Nidditch
Summary
This is the first of three volumes which will contain all of Locke's extant philosophical writings relating to An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, not included in other Clarendon editions like the Correspondence. It contains the earliest known drafts of the Essay, Drafts A and B, both written in 1671, and provides for the first time an accurate version of Locke's text. Virtually all his changes are recorded in footnotes on each page.
Peter Nidditch, whose highly acclaimed edition of An Essay Concerning Human Understanding was published in this series in 1975, used pioneering editorial techniques in his compilation of Volume 1. Most of the work was completed before his tragically early death in 1983.
Volumes 2 and 3, almost wholly the work of G. A. J. Rogers will contain the third extant draft of the Essay (Draft C), the Epitome and the Conduct of the Understanding. They will also include a History of the Writing of the Essay, together with other shorter writings by Locke.
Additional text
'the on-going Clarendon Edition of The Works of John Lockle, which has finally brought readers a reliable and affordable edition of Locke's Essay, edited by Peter Nidditch ... Most of us would wish such a scholarly epitaph for ouselves, especially since ... this edition established and sustained the most elaborate and exacting editorial protocols. The Correspondence of John Locke thus stands perhaps foremost among a number of distinguished editions of Restoration authors.'
Richard Kroll, University of California, Irvine
