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The works of one of the greatest utopians of the seventeenth century in the original French translation

HARRINGTON, James.
Oeuvres politiques. Contenant la République d'Océana, les aphorismes, & les autres traités du même  auteur; précédées de l'histoire de sa vie, écrite par Jean-Toland. Ouvrage traduit de l'Anglois.






Paris, Ant. Aug. Lottin for Libraire Leclere & Libraire Quatremère, An III (=1795). 3 vols. 8vo. Contemporary sprinkled calf, gilt spines with red morocco title-labels lettered in gold, decorated blue endpapers, red painted edges. (4), XVI, 268, III; (2), 275, III; (4), 299, III pp.

Rare original edition of the French translation by P. Fr. Henry of the works of the English political philosopher James (Jacques) Harrington (1611-1677), one of the greatest utopians of the seventeenth century. The translation is preceded by a translation of the biography of Harrington by John Toland (1670-1722), who has edited the important edition of the complete works in 1700. The first edition of Harrington's main work Oceana was published in 1656.
Though republican in his ideas, Harringon won the regard and esteem of Charles I after he was appointed, in 1646, to the suite of the king, at that time being conveyed from Newcastle as prisoner. He roused the suspicion of the parliamentarians and was dismissed. After Charles's death Harrington devoted his time to the composition of his Oceana, a work which pleased neither party. By order of Cromwell is was even seized. After having managed to secure the favour of the protector's favourite daughter, the book appeared in 1656, dedicated to Cromwell. Later he also published several pamphlets, aphorisms and treatises in defence of his Oceana.
The Oceana itself is a hard, prolix, and in many respects heavy exposition of an ideal constitution, 'Oceana' being England and the lawgiver Olphaeus Megaletor, Oliver Cromwell. The detail are elaborated with infinite care, even the salaries of the officials being computed, but the main ideas are (1) that the determining element of power in a state is property generally, property in land in particular, and (2) that the executive power ought not to be vested for any considerable time in then same men or class of men, laid down in the rule of rotation by ballot: a third part of the executive are voted out by ballot every year. Harrington further proposed a mixed government centred on a bicameral assembly that would cooperate for the good of England. He believed that balance and virtue should be the goals of commonwealth government and that having land in too few hands creates political problems.
The Oceana is a work of great analytic realism, adopting a similar stance in its polemics against divine-right monarchists, Thomas Hobbes, and theocratic sectaries. Oceana, like other utopian works by Harrington, is most concerned with the problems of political stability, constitutional forms, and the economic foundations of both. Harrington's republicanism, his concern with agriculture, public order, toleration and a religious establishment which could not be fractious, and above all his earnest realism combine to make him one of the most attractive philosophical thinkers of the seventeenth century.
Long, however, this contemporary of Hobbes and Locke was half forgotten, until Harrington has been subject of a revival among historians and political scientists in recent years, following the publication of a scholarly edition of his works in 1977.

Very nice set.
cf.: J.G.A. Pocock, 'Machiavelli, Harringtion and English political Ideologies in the Eighteenth century', in: William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser. 22,4 (1965), p. 549-83; J. Cotton, 'James Harrington as Aristotelian', in: Political Theory, 7,3 (1979), p. 371-89.

Related Subjects: England  Imaginary Voyages & Utopias  Politics 

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