Bacon, Sir Francis

folio (328 x 210mm.), FIRST EDITION, LARGE PAPER COPY WITH CROWN WATERMARKS, engraved title-page signed in the plate by Simon van de Passe, woodcut headpieces and historiated initials, second issue with e3 cancelled and the page contents reprinted on e4r adding errata and omitting the name of Bill Norton from the colophon, with the initial blank [Pi]1 but without blank c4, "Parasceue, ad historiam naturalem, at experimentalem" with its own divisional title and separate pagination (this section, with its catalogue, comprising leaves a-d⁴ e⁴(-e³) bound at the beginning in this copy), later olive green morocco gilt by Bedford, covers with fillets in gilt and black, gilt acorn leaf cornerpieces, spine in seven compartments with gilt ornaments, gilt edges, leaves 2A2 and 2A3 slightly short (316mm.) and possibly supplied from another copy, a few very minor creases to leaves and a few minor scuff marks to the covers, OTHERWISE AN EXCEPTIONALLY FINE COPY

Sir Edward Sullivan, bookplate, sale, Sotheby's, 20 May 1890, lot 530, £3-8, to Ridler (sold with De dignitate & augmentis scientiarum, 1623); William O'Brien, bequest booklabel dated 1899

STC 1163; Gibson 103b; PMM 119

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing unless otherwise stated
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

A RARE LARGE PAPER COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION OF ONE OF THE KEY INFLUENTIAL LANDMARKS IN THE ADVANCEMENT OF HUMAN LEARNING. Gibson records large paper copies of both the first and second issues of the work, and ESTC states that "about 15 copies are printed on large paper, with a large crown watermark, and measure about 13 inches in height… The large paper copies were printed last, and have all but one of the errors in pagination corrected, as well as two of the errors listed in the errata of the second issue." In this copy the section which normally appears at the end (the preparative to the third part of natural and experimental histories, with a catalogue of particular histories) is in fact bound first.

The Instauratio Magna was intended to be a work in six parts, but only De Augmentis Scientiarum (see next lot) and the Novum Organum were completed. Part II of the Novum Organum expounds Bacon's ground-breaking theory of induction (quite different to previous inductive theories of simple enumeration), and demonstrates that traditional syllogistic logic allows us to discover nothing new about the world, but is only an aid in exhibiting the deductive consequences of what we already know. He also stresses the need for a search for "negative instances" in order to check generalisations, initiating that concern with the nature of probable reasoning which became firmly established in the inquiries of later empirical philosophers and scientists during the Enlightenment. His classification of the sciences was largely adopted in the Encyclopédie and he was regarded as the first to have "made known the necessity for experimental physics" (D'Alembert). Bacon also makes (in Book I of the Novum Organum) what is almost certainly the first systematic attempt to expose the psychological motives and interests that lie behind various philosophical outlooks, discussing the idola mentis (idols of the mind) which he believed persistently hindered the pursuit of objective knowledge.