The Common-Wealth Of Oceana.

London: Printed by J.Streater, for Livewell Chapman, 1656. First Edition. Harrington ranks second to Hobbes as the most important political philosopher of the period. Despite his republican sympathies he remained neutral during the Civil War because of his personal regard for the King. His famous political Utopia, the Oceana was patterned after the Republic of Venice and was considered by Hume in his Essays (Idea of a Perfect Commonwealth) to be the "only valuable model of a commonwealth" extant. The work exerted considerable influence, particularly in America, in the constitutions of the proprietary colonies of Carolina, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and in the American Revolution. "The written constitution, the unlimited use of the elective principle and the separation of powers are all points which may have been derived directly from the Oceana, while all the minor points of machinery, rotation, checks and balances, popular ratifications and special protection for the constitution seem to have been first formulated by Harrington...". (A.E.Levett in Encyc. of Social Sciences) According to the Preface, printing of the book was divided between three presses, the first part extending through quire Ii, the second Kk-Nn, and the third quires Pp-Rr, which accounts for the errors in pagination. The work is dedicated to Oliver Cromwell although Harrington's manuscript had initially been seized by Cromwell's order while the work was in the press. It was subsequently restored through the intervention of Cromwell's daughter, Elizabeth Claypole. Following the Restoration Harrington was confined to the Tower on the dubious charge of conspiracy but was later released. Wing H809. Pforzheimer II 446-47. Goldsmiths' 1385. Kress 934. N Marke 939. CBEL I 2339. cfEinaudi 2848. folio. pp. 6 p.l., 239, [1]blank, 255-286, 189-210, [1]. title in red & black. contemporary calf, sometime rebacked (binding very worn, front joint cracked, significant foxing & browning throughout). elala5651