The Twoo Bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the Proficience and Advancement of Learning, Divine and Humane
London: Printed for Henrie Tomes, 1605. First Edition. Very Good.
First edition. Contemporary limp vellum. Very good, with spine lettering partially faded, moderate soiling and wrinkling to vellum, light dampstaining throughout (particularly to first few leaves and last leaf), and some early ink annotations throughout. Housed in a custom full gilt morocco box. Overall, a beautiful example, without any repairs. In Advancement of Learning, Francis Bacon lays out his ambitious plan to map out all human knowledge and reorganize the scientific method. He later expanded on these subjects in Instauratio Magna (1620) and De Augmentis Scientiarum (1623). The treatise is recognized as a pioneering empirical philosophy text and the first major English-written philosophical book. French philosopher Denis Diderot wrote, "This extraordinary genius, when it was impossible to write a history of what men already knew, wrote one of that which they had to learn." Bacon was an English statesman, philosopher, and essayist who served as Lord Chancellor of England under King James I and is recognized today as the "father of empiricism."
Item #SFB001
Price: $9,500.00
