BACON | The twoo bookes of the proficience and advancement of learning, London, 1605, vellum

The Property of the Downside Abbey General Trust

BACON, FRANCIS

The twoo bookes… of the proficience and advancement of learning, divine and humane. London: Henry Tomes, 1605

4to (212 x 157mm.), with final blank leaf, without the two final errata leaves (as usual; the errata have been corrected by hand), contemporary vellum gilt, water-staining in gutter resulting in friable paper in most of the book, lacking two pairs of ties, binding slightly soiled

FIRST EDITION of Bacon's first published philosophical work, in which he expounded the importance of learning in all parts of life and the means by which it could be expanded and improved. Bacon planned to issue a Latin version at the same time, so that it would reach a larger audience than just readers of English, but this never came about. The book was dedicated to the new king James I, in the hope that he would reform the universities and promote scholarly discourse.

LITERATURE:

Gibson, Bacon 81; STC 1164

PROVENANCE:

Ro. Middelmore, early inscription on title-page; Johnson, inscription on inside front cover; D.G. Parsons, Oriel College, Oxford, inscription on inside front cover dated 1836 and his armorial bookplate with motto "non me pars sons"