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BACON, FRANCIS.: THE WORKS OF FRANCIS BACON, BARON OF VERULAM, VISCOUNT ST. ALBAN, AND LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND... To which is prefixed A Life of the Author by Mr. Mallet.
London, A. MIllar, 1753. Three volumes, complete set, the third volume in Latin, folio, 360 x 230 mm, 14" x 9", 3 frontispieces of which 2 are portraits, that in Volume I by Georges Vertue, pages (8), xxxv, 762; viii, 614, (53 - index); xx, 750, (38 - index), rebound in modern half morocco, cloth sides, gilt rules to spines and gilt lettered morocco labels, all edges speckled red, new endpapers. The portrait frontispieces in Volumes I and III are placed immediately before the Life of the Author and Nobilissimi Auctoris Vita, that in Volume II is in the normal place. The offsetting on the page opposite the plates confirms that they have always been in those positions. There is a jump in the pagination of Volume III from 620 to 625 but according to the Table of Contents nothing is missing and our volume has been collated against another copy which has the same error. Title pages lightly browned at outer edges, light age-browning to most pages,a few pages more heavily browned, occasional foxing, mainly to margins, heavy in a few places, no soiling or tears. Binding tight and firm. A very good clean set. See Lowndes Volume I, page 93 referring to the 1753 edition: 'An edition more methodical, more elegant, and every way more complete, than any preceding'. Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) (later Lord Verulam and the Viscount St. Albans) was a lawyer, statesman, essayist, historian, intellectual reformer, philosopher, and champion of modern science. Early in his career he claimed "all knowledge" as his province and afterwards dedicated himself to a wholesale revaluation and re-structuring of traditional learning. To take the place of the established tradition (a miscellany of Scholasticism, humanism, and natural magic), he proposed an entirely new system based on empirical and inductive principles and the active development of new arts and inventions, a system whose ultimate goal would be the production of practical knowledge for "the use and benefit of men" and the relief of the human condition. At the same time that he was founding and promoting this new project for the advancement of learning, Bacon was also moving up the ladder of state service. His career aspirations had been largely disappointed under Elizabeth I, but with the ascension of James his political fortunes rose. Knighted in 1603, he was then steadily promoted to a series of offices, including Solicitor General (1607), Attorney General (1613), and eventually Lord Chancellor (1618). While serving as Chancellor, he was indicted on charges of bribery and forced to leave public office. He then retired to his estate where he devoted himself full time to his continuing literary, scientific, and philosophical work. He died in 1626, leaving behind a cultural legacy that included most of the foundation for the triumph of technology and for the modern world as we currently know it. Images sent on request.
Offered for GBP 695.00 = appr. US$ 1032.08 by: Roger Middleton - Book number: 3246