Letters with No Surviving Manuscript Source

Boyle, Hon. Robert, 1627-1691

Letter to Boyle, 12/22 December 1665.

Superscription: Cleve, Dec. 12/22, 1665.

Salutation: Honoured Sir,

Signature: Sir, | your most obedient, and most faithful servant | John Locke

Printed: Corr., i. 175; Boyle, Works (1744), v:365-367.

Letter to Boyle, 5 May 1666.

Salutation: Honoured Sir,

Signature: I am, SIR, | Your most Humble, and most Obedient Servant, | John Locke | Ch. Ch. 5o May, 1666.

Answered by Boyle on 2 June.

Printed: Corr., i. 197; Boyle, The general history of the air (1692), pages 137-141; reprinted in Boyle, Works (1744), 5:157-158.

Letter to Boyle, 24 February 1667.

Superscription: Christ Church, Feb. 24, 1666[/67].

Salutation: Honoured Sir,

Signature: Honoured Sir, | your most humble, and most obliged servant, | John Locke.

Printed: Boyle, Works (1744), 5:567; Corr., i. 223.

Letter to Boyle, 24 March 1667.

Superscription: Christ Church, March 24, 66/67.

Salutation: Honoured Sir,

Signature: Honoured Sir, | your most obedient, and most obliged servant, | John Locke.

Printed: Boyle, Works (1744), 5:567-568; Corr., i. 224.

Letter to Boyle, 2/12 November 1667.

Superscription: Exeter-house, Nov. 12, 1667.

Salutation: Honoured Sir,

Signature: Honoured Sir, | your most humble, and most obedient servant, | John Locke.

Printed: Boyle, Works (1744), 5:568; Corr., i. 228.

Letter to Boyle, 25 May/4 June 1677.

Superscription: Paris, June 4, 1677.

Salutation: Honoured Sir,

Signature: Honoured Sir, | your most humble, and most obliged servant, | John Locke.

“Your letters will find me, if they be directed to me, Chez Monsieur Charas maistre apothecaire rue de Boucherie dans le Faubourg St. Germain à Paris.”

Printed: De Beer, i. 335; Boyle, Works (1744), 5:568-569. ]

Letter to Boyle, 27 July/6 Aug 1678.

Superscription: Blois, August 6, 1678.

Salutation: Honoured Sir,

Signature: Honoured Sir, | your most humble servant, | J. Locke.

Printed: De Beer, i. 396; Boyle, Works (1744), 5:569-570 ]


Evelyn, John, 1620-1706   [1 letter, 1673]

Letter to Evelyn, 17 Oct 1673.

Printed: Corr., ix. 279A (from auction catalogue summary only)


Mapletoft, Dr. John, 1631-1721   [13 letters, 1670-79]

Letter to Mapletoft, 10 July 1670.

Superscription: Exeter-House, 10th July, 70.

Salutation: Sir,

Signature: Sir, | Your very humble and most obedient Servant, | J. Locke.

Address: For Dr. John Mapletoft, at the Right Honourable the Lord Ambassadors at Copenhagen.

Mapletoft was in Copenhagen attending Arthur Capel, Earl of Essex, the ambassador to Denmark.

Printed: European magazine xiv (1788):321-322; Corr., i. 253.

Letter to Mapletoft, 10 October 1671.

Superscription: Salisbury, 10th Oct. 71.

Salutation: Sir,

Signature: (1) Sir, | Your most humble and most affectionate servant, | J. Locke. (2) Sir, your most humble servant, | J. Locke.

Address: These present, To Dr. John Mapletoft, at Mr. Firmin’s, overagainst the George, in Lombard-street, London.

Separate letters written on two sides of a sheet; that on the verso is a reply to a letter from Mapletoft dated 2 October 1671 (missing).

Printed: European magazine xiv (1788):401-402; Corr., i. 259.

Letter to Mapletoft, 7 [27?] October 1671.

Superscription: Sutton, 7th Oct. 71.

Salutation: Dear Sir,

Signature: Sir, | Your most humble servant, And faithful freind, | J. Locke.

Address: For his much honoured freind, Dr. John Mapletoft, at Mr. Firmin’s, overagainst the George, in Lombard-street, London.

The dates of the two letters L259 (“10th Oct. 71.”) and L260 (“7th Oct. 71”) are incompatible, as Locke apologizes in the former for not having written recently. De Beer suggests a minimal error in the date: either 17 or 27 October 1671. This would produce the following sequence of letters: a letter from Mapletoft, written 10 October and received 12 or 13 October; a lost letter from Mapletoft, ca. 15 October; Locke leaves Salisbury for Sutton ca. 20 October; Locke receives the lost letter from Mapletoft ca. 23 October, and replies on 27 October.

Printed: European magazine xiv (1788):322-323; Corr., i. 260.

Letter to Mapletoft, 19/29 October 1672.

Superscription: Exeter House, 19o Oct. 72.

Salutation: Deare Sir,

Signature: Your most humble and obedient servant, | J. Locke.

Address: For his much honoured freind Dr. Mapletoft, at the Righ Honourable the Countess of Northumberland’s, in France.

Printed: European magazine xv (1789):9-10; Corr., i. 265.

Letter to Mapletoft, 14 February 1673.

Superscription: Exeter House, 14th Feb. 72–3.

Salutation: Dear Sir,

Signature: Dear Sir, | Your most affectinate, sincere, and humble servant, | J. Locke.

Address: For my much honoured freind Dr. Mapletoft, at Aix.

Printed: European magazine xiv (1788):402-403; Bourne, Life, 1:316-317; Corr., i. 269.

Letter to Mapletoft, 12/22 June 1677.

Superscription: Paris, 22 June 77.

Salutation: Dear Sir,

Signature: Deare Sir, | Your most humble servant, | John Locke.

Address: For Dr. John Mapletoft, at his lodgings in Gresham Colledg, London.

Answered by Mapletoft on 25 July.

Printed: De Beer, i. 339; European magazine xv (1789):10-11; an excerpt in J. Ward, The lives of the professors of Gresham College (1740), pages 275-276]

Letter to Mapletoft, 30 July/9 August 1677.

Superscription: Paris, 9o Aug. 77.

Salutation: Sir,

Signature (1): I am, | Deare Sir, | Your most affectionate Humble servant, | John Locke.

Signature (2): Deare Sir, | Your most humble And obedient servant, | John Locke.

Address: These For Dr. John Mapletoft, at his lodgings in Gresham Colledg, London.

Answers Mapletoft’s letter of 25 July; answered by Mapletoft on 11 October.

Printed: De Beer, i. 348; European magazine xv (1789):89-90; part transcribed by J. Ward, British Library, Add. MS 6194, pages 245-248]

Letter to Mapletoft, 30 July/9 August 1677.

Superscription: Paris, 9o Aug. 77.

Salutation: Sir,

Signature (1): I am, | Deare Sir, | Your most affectionate Humble servant, | John Locke.

Signature (2): Deare Sir, | Your most humble And obedient servant, | John Locke.

Address: These For Dr. John Mapletoft, at his lodgings in Gresham Colledg, London.

Answers Mapletoft’s letter of 25 July; answered by Mapletoft on 11 October.

Printed: De Beer, i. 348; European magazine xv (1789):89-90; part transcribed by J. Ward, British Library, Add. MS 6194, pages 245-248]

Letter to Mapletoft, 24 November/4 December 1677.

Superscription: Paris, 4 Dec. 1677.

Salutation: Sir,

Signature: Your most humble Servant, | John Locke.

Address: For Dr. John Mapletoft, at Gresham Colledg, London.

Answered by Mapletoft on 3 December.

Printed: De Beer, i. 360; European magazine xv (1789):185-186; Dewhurst, “A symposium on trigenimal neuralgia” (1957), pages 24-26.

Letter to Mapletoft, 24 November/4 December 1677.

Superscription: Paris, 4 Dec. 77. | At One in the Afternoon.

Signature: Your most humble Servant | J. L.

Answered by Mapletoft on 3 December.

Printed: De Beer, i. 361; European magazine xv (1789):186; Dewhurst, “A symposium on trigenimal neuralgia” (1957), page 26.

Letter to Mapletoft, 25 November/5 December 1677.

Superscription: Paris, Sunday night, … Dec. 77.

Salutation: Sir,

Signature: I am, Sir, | Your most humble servant | John Locke.

Answered by Mapletoft on 3 December.

Printed: De Beer, i. 362; European magazine xv (1789):273-274; Dewhurst, “A symposium on trigenimal neuralgia” (1957), page 27.

Letter to Mapletoft, 12/22 December 1677.

Superscription: Paris, 22 Dec. 77.

Signature: … your very affectionate freinde and humble servant | J. Locke.

Answers Mapletoft’s letter of 3 December, particularly the enclosure from Sydenham; answered by Mapletoft on 10 January.

Printed: De Beer, i. 364; European magazine xv (1789):273; Dewhurst, “A symposium on trigenimal neuralgia” (1957), pages 34-35.

Letter to Mapletoft, 29 October/8 November 1678.

Superscription: Lyon, 8 Nov. 78.

Salutation: Deare Sir,

Signature: Sir, | Your most affectionate humble servant | J. Locke.

Printed: De Beer, i. 417; European magazine xv (1789):435; part transcribed by J. Ward, British Library, Add. MS 6194, pages 248-250.


Osborne, Sir Thomas, 1671-1712   [1 letters, 1673]

Letter to Osborne, 25 October 1673.

Early colonial papers.

Printed: Corr., ix. 280A (from auction catalogue; summary only).


Pepys, Samuel, 1633-1703   [1 letters, 1678]

Letter to Mapletoft, 29 August/8 September 1678.

Superscription: 29 August, 1678.

Copy in Pepys’s letter-book; original sent with a letter to Caleb Banks and a letter from Sir John Banks to Caleb.

Printed: De Beer, i. 405; Pepys, Further correspondence, 1662-1679, ed. J. R. Tanner (1929), page 320.


Strachey, John, 1634-1675   [?? letters, ????-1672]

Letter to Strachey, [mid-October 1672].

Salutation: Sir,

Signature: Dear Sir, | Your most affectinate friend and humble servant, | J. L.

Endorsement: Copy of Dr. Locke’s letter to Mr. Strachey.

“From a contemporary copy of the original” [Rand]; date based on the contents of the letter, which relates to Locke’s trip to Paris.

Printed: Rand (ed.), The correspondence of John Locke and Edward Clarke (1927), pages 77-79; Corr., i. 264.


Trotter, Catharine, later Mrs. Cockburn, 1679?-1749   [1 letter, 1701]

Letter of dedication to Locke, [ca. December 1701].

Printed: Cockburn, A defence of the Essay of human understanding (1702); Broad (ed.), Women philosophers of eighteenth-century England, pages 121-123; Corr., ix. 3059A.