Unidentified private collection

“Adversaria 1661”

A large folio notebook containing 321 numbered leaves and 149 blank leaves. Locke wrote “Adversaria 1661” inside the front cover. According to J. R. Milton, the earliest entries in the book date from 1668 and was in use through at least 1669.

Among the entries are copies by Locke of papers relating to trade by Benjamin Worsley, Locke’s predecessor as secretary to the Council of Trade and Plantations. Worsley’s papers date from 1668 and 1669, but it is unclear when Locke entered the copies.

The notebook was formerly a part of the Lovelace Collection and was used by Lord King in his Life of John Locke (1829). It became separated from the collection before their acquisition by the Bodleian Library, and has remained in private hands. For a time, it was owned by Arthur O. Houghton, Jr.; it is presently in a private collection in France. Microfilm copies are available in the Houghton Library, Harvard University (MS. Eng. 860.1) and in the Bodleian Library (MS. Film 77).

For a description of the notebook, a discussion of the dating of its contents, and a list of material by Locke, see Milton, “The dating of ‘Adversaria 1661’ ” (1998).

Individual items in the volume include:

ff. 1-2:

Adversaria [c. 1670?]

pp. 6-7:

Gratia (1692)

pp. 10-11:

Virtus [c. 1681]

p. 16:

Pactum [c. 1670-73]

pp. 16-17,
158-171:

Plantations A [by Worsley] [1668]

p. 18:

Deus [c. 1672-75]

p. 20:

Religio (1694)

p. 20:

Religio (1699)

p. 22:

Disputatio (1700)

p. 24:

Iustitia (1695)

p. 25:

Adversaria [1679?]

p. 38:

Lingua (1694)

pp. 56-89,
94-95:

Intellectus [Draft A of the Essay] (1671)

p. 93:

Sacerdos (1698)

pp. 94-95:

Continuation of Draft A [c. 1675]

pp. 106-125:

Toleration 67 [the An essay concerning toleration]: A copy by an unknown scribe, dating from ca. 1672, with two additions dating from ca. 1675; one of four versions of this paper.

pp. 125,
270-271:

Toleration [additions to the Essay concerning toleration, ca. 1675]

p. 134:

Church (1699)

pp. 158-171:

Continuation of Plantations A [by Worsley] [1668]

pp. 172-179:

Plantations B [by Worsley] [1668]

pp. 180-214:

Jamaica B [by Worsley] (24 February 1669)

pp. 215-219,
232-252:

Jamaica A [by Worsley] [summer 1668]

pp. 220-231:

Ireland [by Worsley] [1668?]

pp. 232-252:

Continuation of Jamaica A [by Worsley] [1668]

pp. 253-262:

Surinam [by Worsley] [after 2 July 1669]

pp. 263-265:

Sena [by Worsley] (22 January 1668)

pp. 268-269:

Venditio (1695)

pp. 270-271:

Continuation of Toleration [c. 1675]

pp. 290-291:

Adversaria (1681)

pp. 294-295:

Peccatum originale (1692)

pp. 310-311:

Labor (1693)

p. 312:

Voluntas (1694)

p. 314:

Idolatria (1694)

pp. 318-319:

Prophetia (1697)

pp. 320-321:

Error (1698)

endpaper:

Adversaria [undated]