Harrington, James, Sir (1611-1677). The Common-Wealth of Oceana. London: Printed by J. Streater for Livewell Chapman, 1656.

Chancery folio (267 x 165 mm). Title printed in red and black. (Marginal toning to title-page, light offsetting and spotting throughout.) Contemporary dark calf (rebacked to style, endpapers renewed, fore-corners repaired). Provenance: contemporary marginalia and underlining.

FIRST EDITION OF HARRINGTON'S MASTERPIECE OF POLITICAL THEORY, in which, next to Thomas More's Utopia, is perhaps the most famous attempt at envisioning a model commonwealth" (Pforzheimer). A work of utopian fiction, here Harrington envisions the country of Oceana, with a republican constitution, bicameral legislature, and other features that would have a profound influence on thinkers such as Montesquieu, Hume, Blackstone, and Locke, as well as thinkers of the American Revolutionary generation such as John Adams. Pforzheimer 449; Wing H-809.

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The Library of Stephen J. Farber

Harrington, James, Sir (1611-1677). The Common-Wealth of Oceana. London: Printed by J. Streater for Livewell Chapman, 1656.

The Library of Stephen J. Farber

Harrington, James, Sir (1611-1677). The Common-Wealth of Oceana. London: Printed by J. Streater for Livewell Chapman, 1656.

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