Leighton Library, Dunblane

Scotland's oldest purpose-built independent library founded in 1687

Leighton Library has 1737 Toland edition of "The Commonwealth of Oceana" by James Harrington

Added at 09:04 on 03 January 2026

The Leighton Library has a 1737 Toland edition of the controversial publication "The Commonwealth of Oceana" by classical republicanism political theorist James Harrington, who was born #OnThisDay 3 January 1611. This was dedicated to Oliver Cromwell, and it was an exposition of a utopian constitution for an English republic in the wake of the execution of King Charles I in 1649. Oceana was originally suppressed by Oliver Cromwell because it proposed a constitution that many saw as a coded critique of Cromwell’s regime.

John Toland was an Irish philosopher, and was the first person to gather Harrington’s scattered writings and present them as a coherent body of work. The 1737 printing is the second edition of Toland’s project, but it’s the one that became the standard reference in the 18th century.

< Leighton Library has modern facsimile of 1842 edition of “An Appeal to Parliament, or, Zion’s Plea Against Prelacy”Leighton Library has 1674 edition of "Seven sermons preached by Seth Lord Bishop of Sarum" by Seth Ward >