THREE SLICES OF BACON
BACON, Francis.
Historia vitae et mortis.
Amsterdam, Johannes van Ravesteyn, 1663.
[bound with:]
—. Phaenomena universi sive historia naturalis & experimentalis de ventis. Amsterdam, Henricus Wetstein, 1695.
[and:]
—. De sapientia veterum, ad inclytam academiam Cantabrigiensem. Editio nova. Amsterdam, Henricus Wetstein, 1696.
Three works in one volume, 12mo; I: pp. 201, [46 (index)], [1 (blank)]; II: pp. [16], 99, [13 (index)], title printed in red and black; III: pp. 117, [2 (index)], [1 (blank)]; woodcut initials, head-, and tailpieces; first work with tear to inner margin of title leaf and with some occasional dampstaining; good copies, unopened and uncut, in the original blue-grey boards, cream paper spine with titles in ink; worn and marked, some loss to spine, hole to front free endpaper; preserved in recent red morocco and marbled paper chemise with yapp fore-edges, spine lettered in gilt, and matching marbled slipcase; gilt red morocco label ‘Ex libris W.A. Foyle Beeleigh Abbey’ to front pastedown.
Pocket-sized Amsterdam editions of three works by Francis Bacon (1561–1626), uncut and unopened and bound, exceptionally, in the original drab boards.
Our sammelband opens with the Historia vitae et mortis (first published 1623), Bacon’s essay on the prolongation of life. ‘In none of Bacon’s writings is there more appearance of research; he has collected a great number of instances of longevity, and in attempting to find something in the character or way of life of the persons whom he mentions to which their long life may be ascribed, he often sums up with singular felicity whatever is most remarkable about them’ (R.L. Ellis).
Then comes Bacon’s first instalment in his projected series of works on natural history, the Historia ventorum (first published 1622), a history of winds encompassing warships and windmills, drawn principally from the works of Pliny, Aristotle, and the Latin American Jesuit missionary and naturalist José de Acosta; several passages also indicate that Bacon had read William Gilbert’s then-unpublished Physiologia nova.
The De sapientia veterum (first published 1609) collects and interprets thirty-one ancient myths, including those of Cassandra, Orpheus, Prometheus, and Icarus. Although traditionally listed under Bacon’s literary works, this essay ‘treats various philosophical issues and has more recently been seen as an important contribution to both his natural and civil philosophy’ (ODNB). It is interesting for Bacon’s views on atomism, too: ‘as early as De sapientia veterum he insisted that the atom has active powers other than mere impenetrability’ (DSB).
Provenance: William Foyle (1883–1963), co-founder of Foyles bookshop, who purchased the former medieval monastery of Beeleigh Abbey, Essex, in 1943.
Historia: STCN 841509565; USTC 1800679; Gibson 151. Phaenomena: STCN 103779604; USTC 1833321; Gibson 112. Sapientia: STCN 103778594; USTC 1828828; Gibson 93. Not in Brunet; cf. Graesse I, p. 273.
