BACON, Francis.

Lot 960
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BACON, Francis.
Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the Proficience and advancement of learning, divine and humane. London, printed for Henrie Tomes, 1605. In-4 (180 x 145 mm) of one title page, 45, 118 [i.e. 121] e.f.s., 1 white f.n.s.; wove vellum, ivory with flaps without laces, smooth spine with manuscript title (contemporary binding). First edition of this fundamental work of Bacon. This is the first work on scientific methodology written by the young Bacon and the only work published in English during his lifetime. It lays the foundations for a philosophical reflection that will make him one of the pioneers of modern scientific thought. "The Advancement of Learning, as it is commonly called, was Bacon's first published philosophical work and the only one which he published in English... [It] was divided into two books. The first was an eloquent and powerful defense of the importance of learning to every field of life, it was therefore constructed according to the principles of epideictic oratory. The much longer and more important second book was a general survey of the contemporary state of human knowledge, identifying its deficiencies and supplying Bacon's broad suggestions for improvement. The book's real importance was not so much its encyclopedic character but rather its professed aim of propagating the Baconian ideas of the advancement of learning and knowledge, and of the practical means of accomplishing it" (ODNB). The foliation of the second part is very wrong: leaf C4r line 5 with variant 'b' and the word 'maniable' instead of 'amiable', leaf Dd3r with variant b line 26 with the words 'through lights' printed in italics. Very good copy, slightly stained binding; without the two errata leaves which only appear in very rare copies. Gibson, 81; Pforzheimer, 36; Horblit, 8; Norman, 97.
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