BIDERMAN'S BACON
BACON, Francis.
Opuscula varia posthuma, philosophica, civilia, et theologica, nunc primum edita. Cura & fide Guilielmi Rawley … Una cum nobilissimi auctoris vitae.
London, R. Daniel, impensis Octaviani Pulleyn, 1658.
8vo, pp. [xxxvi], 216; woodcut headpieces and initials; some spotting and browning in places, but largely fresh; with seventeenth-century engraved bookplate of Antonius Biderman on verso of title (leading to small hole on title, not affecting text); in later marbled boards with floral paper spine, manuscript label at head of spine; later endpapers; some rubbing and wear to extremities with small chip at head.
Added to your basket:
Opuscula varia posthuma, philosophica, civilia, et theologica, nunc primum edita. Cura & fide Guilielmi Rawley … Una cum nobilissimi auctoris vitae.
First edition, second issue of this collection of the philosophical, political, and theological writings of Bacon, including numerous essays previously unpublished, and the first appearance in Latin of a biographical sketch of the philosopher by William Rawley (c. 1588–1667), Bacon’s literary executor, chaplain, and amanuensis.
‘After Bacon’s death Rawley devoted his life to creating an unblemished portrait of his master, compiling a volume of commemorative verse, and editing, translating, and publishing selections of his work, culminating in the Resuscitatio (1657) and Opuscula varia posthuma (1658), which contained (in English and Latin respectively) his hagiographical but highly influential life of Bacon. His editorial endeavours led to correspondence with intellectuals including John Selden, Isaac Gruter, and Elie Diodati’ (ODNB).
Rawley collects together eleven essays by Bacon, some original and some appearing for the first time in Latin, including ‘Historia densi et rari’, ‘Inquisitio de magnetate’, ‘Topica inquisitionis de luce et lumine’, ‘Confessio Fidei’, and ‘Inquisitio de versionibus, transmutationubus, multiplicationibus, et effectionibus corporum’; several have their own title-pages. This is the second issue, with the imprint R. Daniel rather than R. Danielis.
Provenance: our copy bears the bookplate of Antonius Biderman (d. 1679), a governor in the service of the Fürstenberg family; on his death, the bulk of his collection went to that family’s substantial library at Donaueschingen (dispersed in 1999), although the present copy bears no Donaueschingen stamps.
ESTC records four locations in North America (Huntington, Rochester, Southern Illinois, and Toronto).
ESTC R12045; USTC 3071169; Gibson 230b.
