15th Mar, 2019 10:30 GMT/BST

Books, Maps & Ephemera

 
Lot 161
 

161

Bacon, Sir Francis, Baron Verulam, Viscount St Albans Of the Advancement and Proficience of...

Bacon, Sir Francis, Baron Verulam, Viscount St Albans
Of the Advancement and Proficience of Learning or the Partitions of Sciences IX Bookes. Oxford: by Leon Lichfield, For Rob. Young and Ed. Forrest, 1640. 4to, full calf, sometime reback, boards with central ASD monogram; eng. port. frontis., eng. title, floriated initials, decorative head- and tail-pieces. First English translation of the expanded edition of 1623, colphon dated 1640 (as is common). Signatures agree with STC (2nd ed.), 1167.3 (2E1 mis-signed E, 2F1 mis-signed F, 3Q3 mis-signed 3R3).
Francis Bacon is one of the most lauded figures of the glittering firmament that was the English Renaissance. A true polymath, he was a philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, orator, and author. He was involved in one of the most important court cases in English legal history, Slade's Case, is revered as the father of the scientific method, and (at least according to Aubrey) died a martyr to experiment trying to invent the freezer. He remains a favourite target for conspiracy theories, not least that he was a Rosicrucian Master; the illegitimate son of Elizabeth; and Shakespeare. The Advancement of Learning was hugely influential in its efforts to systematise and delineate forms of knowledge, inspiring the taxonomy of Diderot's Encyclopedia and pioneering an empirical philosophy. Bacon always sought (as with many of his contemporaries) to find God through studying His works and this work explored Bacon's view of the relation between science and theology. A critical text in the history of science and Western thought, described by Voltaire as "the scaffold with which the new philosophy was raised." Rare with both the portrait and allegorical title-page.

Sold for £250
Estimated at £200 - £400


 

. Upper board detached, evidence of water staining from 2P1 to end, slight loss lower corner D2, not affecting text, X4 with line of interference with printing causing slightly break in text block, other variable marking, foxing etc internally. w.a.f.

 


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Auction: Books, Maps & Ephemera, 15th Mar, 2019

Books, Maps & Ephemera

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