The Essayes or Counsels Civill and Morall of Francis Lord Verulam Viscount St Alban.

BACON, Francis.

$750.00

Item Number: 148453

London: Cresset Press/ Printed at the Shakespeare Head Press, 1928.

The Shakespeare Head Press limited edition of this collection of Francis Bacon’s reflective writings. Folio, printed on Batchelor’s Kelmscott hand-made paper, bound in the original publisher’s full vellum by Sangorski & Sutcliffe with gilt titles to the front panel and spine in six compartments within raised bands, top edge gilt. One of 250 numbered copies, this is number 53. In near fine condition with light spotting to the spine. Titles and initial letters designed by Joscelyne Gaskin. Ownership plate to the front pastedown of James Harold Leighton. Housed in a custom slipcase.

Francis Bacon, First Viscount St Alban (1561–1626), was an English philosopher, statesman, and essayist whose work laid the intellectual foundations for modern scientific inquiry and empirical reasoning. Serving as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor under James I, Bacon was deeply involved in political life, yet his enduring legacy lies in his philosophical writings, particularly Novum Organum, which articulated a method of inductive reasoning that challenged scholasticism and shaped the Scientific Revolution. His essays, collected in The Essayes or Counsels, Civill and Morall, reveal his pragmatic understanding of human nature and governance, blending classical learning with Renaissance humanism. Bacon’s dual contributions to science and political thought position him as a pivotal figure in the transition from medieval to modern intellectual traditions.