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First collected edition in Latin, three parts in one volume; second issue, with the inclusion of the third part, the preliminaries of the Instauratio Magna followed by the Novum Organum, made up from unsold sheets of the 1620 first edition (London: John Bill, 1620). Small folio, bound mostly in sixes, 30.2 x 20.3 cm overall, the pages 29.2 x 19.4 cm. Full contemporary vellum, the spine lettered "Baconi VERULAMII Scripta" between rules in brown ink, all edges cut and stained blue. Collates (16), 386 (i.e., 384) pp., first part (the frontispiece portrait of Bacon, attributed to Wenceslaus Hollar, repositioned following A6); (16), 475, [1] pp., second part; (8, of 12), 172, 181-360, 37, [1] pp., third part (not including the initial unsigned bifolium with initial blank and engraved title), a complete example of this variant collation, the signature register continuous notwithstanding numerous errors in pagination. Front spine split but holding at top 8 cm of joint, 3.5 cm straight and 2.5 cm circular closed tears in vellum on front cover, covers moderately stained and worn at extremities, separations of pastedowns along flaps, tears in top and bottom 3 cm of gutter of general title, tiny wormholes in front board through first signature, one continuing cleanly in center of page though three-quarters of first part, and a few scattered others in the text block, none affecting any legibility, overall minor occasional staining, foxing and toning throughout, three instances of two or three lines crossed out and one of miniscule marginalia in Latin in old brown ink, the general title showing relative wear and soiling, otherwise the text block in excellent condition, generally clean, tight and strong, the sheets of Novum Organum particularly bright and fresh. Inscription dated 1650 of Magister Karl Schröder, Konrektor of the Domschule of Riga in 1648, on first blank recto; armorial bookplate of Samuel Cabot on front pastedown (of the family which settled in Massachusetts Colony). STC (2d ed. 1986) 1110; Gibson 197. The Operum Moralium et Civilium Tomus was first issued (STC 1109, Gibson 196) in two parts, the first including the Historia Regni Henrici Septimi, Sermones Fideles (from the Essayes of 1625), De Sapienta Veterum, Dialogus de Bello Sacro and Nova Atlantis, the second including the De Augmentis Scientiarum of 1623 ("Instaurationis Magnae Pars Prima") and the Historia Naturalis et Experimentalis of 1622 ("Instaurationis Magnae Pars Tertia"). (There are nine sectional title pages in the first two parts, besides the general title.) The third part was appended in the same year, comprising the unsold sheets of the 1620 first edition of the Novum Organum, in its second issue with the errata and the colophon of John Bill alone on cancel e3. Apart from the inclusion of the third part itself, this second issue of 1638 is differentiated by the addition of a single line of text on the general title, following the bracketed contents of the second part: "Adjecti sunt, in Calce Operis, Libri duo Instaurationis Magnae." (This copy does not include the unsigned bifolium with initial blank and engraved title found at the beginning of some copies of the third part; the present variant state, typical according to Gibson, conforms with copies in three of the five North American libraries listed in ESTC Online, including the Huntington Library copy digitally reproduced in Early English Books Online.) This collected Latin edition compiled by William Rawley, Bacon's literary protégé and private chaplain, includes in part Bacon's original Latin work, in part his own translations and expansions of his earlier English and "praeterquam in paucis" (as the general title states) translations by Bacon's other "good pens" (Jonson and Hobbes are among those nominated). The inclusion of the Novum Organum in first edition sheets here reunites the sweeping scheme of the Instauratio Magna, Bacon's magnum opus and a pinnacle in the history of thought. Seller Inventory # ABE-1505415898817
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