Books and Manuscripts

(Bacon, Francis)
(The Essayes or Counsels, Civill and Morall, of Francis Lo. Verulam, Viscount St. Alban)
(London: Printed by John Haviland for Hanna Barret…, 1625). First complete edition, first or second issue (12th edition overall). 4to. (vi), 340; lacking A1-A3 at front (blank, title-page, and first leaf of dedication). Text printed within double-line rule. Illustrated with woodcut head-pieces and initials. Full contemporary brown calf, stamped in blind and in gilt, rebacked with original spine laid down, boards rubbed and lightly soiled; all edges gilt; scattered faint dampstaining throughout text; scattered wear along edges, especially to fore-edges; scattered contemporary underlining and marginalia, other later marginalia in pencil; contemporary ownership signature on p. 55 and 144 ; lower fore-edge repaired, pp. 161-164; repairs in upper gutter, pp. 204-205 and 207; very small hole at center of pp. 323/323, affecting a few letters. Gibson 13-14; Pforzheimer 30 (second issue)

First complete edition of Francis Bacon's essays--the last to be issued in his lifetime. "A storehouse of the practical wisdom gathered during its author's lifetime, a life singularly rich in opportunities for such accumulations” (DNB), this volume contains essays covering a wide range of subjects on human experience, from Truth, Death, Revenge, Love, Friendship, Ambition, Fortune, to Sedition, Superstition, Negotiating, Gardens, and Honor. It is the most commonly reprinted text of Bacon's work, and “ranks in importance with the first of 1597 and the recension published by John Beale in 1612.” (Pforzheimer). The first edition of 1597 contained only 10 essays, the edition of 1612 has 38, and this edition, published a year before the philosopher's death, contains 58.