Instauratio magna [Novum Organum]

BACON, Sir Francis

Published by Joannem Billium, London, 1620

About this Item

FIRST ISSUE, LARGE PAPER COPY. The Devonshire-Horblit-Garden copy of the first edition, first issue, large paper copy, published in October 1620 with Norton's name in the colophon, and printed on paper with the large crown watermark. It appears that only one other large paper copy of the first issue has appeared in commerce. Bacon's aim was to lay an entirely new foundation for science, "neither leaping to unproved general principles in the manner of the ancient philosophers nor heaping up unrelated facts in the manner of the empirics" (DSB). He proposed a new method of acquiring knowledge of the world through observation, experiment and inductive reasoning. "Bacon conceived a massive plan for the reorganization of scientific method and gave purposeful thought to the relation of science to public and social life. His pronouncement 'I have taken all knowledge to be my province' is the motto of his work . The frontispiece to his magnum opus shows a ship in full sail passing through the Pillars of Hercules from the old to the new world. It symbolizes the vision of its author whose ambitious proposal was: 'a total reconstruction of sciences, arts and all human knowledge . to extend the power and dominion of the human race . over the universe. Bacon made no contributions to science itself, but his insistence on making science experimental and factual, rather than speculative and philosophical, had powerful consequences . As a philosopher Bacon's influence on Locke and through him on subsequent English schools of psychology and ethics was profound. Leibniz, Huygens and particularly Robert Boyle were deeply indebted to him, as were the Encyclopédistes and Voltaire" (PMM). Bacon "insisted on experiment in determining truth in nature and the above book is a proposed method for the assessment of all knowledge. The accumulation of observation and fact must be the basis of a new philosophy and not the authority of Aristotle or anyone else . Bacon's inspiration led directly to the formation of the Royal Society. The famous engraved title-page showing a ship boldly sailing beyond the Pillars of Hercules (the limits of the old world) is interpreted to represent the bold spirit of adventure and research of the new age of science" (Dibner). Bacon originally conceived his revolutionary work in six parts, of which only the first and second parts, the De augmentiis scientiarum (1623, a greatly expanded version of the Advancement of learning) and the Novum organum were completed. More than a mere portion of the Instauratio, however the Novum organum, as its title implies, "contains the central ideas of Bacon's system, of which the whole of the Instauratio is only the development" (Pforzheimer, p. XXI). "Book I of the Novum Organum restates in the form of detached aphorisms Bacon's fundamental criticisms of science and his plans for its renewal. Calling for the direct observation of nature (rather than recycling Aristotle's texts), Bacon was nonetheless aware of the possible distortions involved, brilliantly analysing the four 'Idols' (from the Greek eidola, illusions) to which human beings are prone. These are the idols of the Tribe, Market-Place and Theatre. In the more technical Book II Bacon gives a worked example of inductive method as applied to heat, using experimental data to construct tables of absence and presence, concluding that heat is a form of motion. Bacon's inductive method has often been misrepresented as a purely mechanical procedure, but recent research has shown that it includes hypothetico-deductive elements, representing a substantial contribution to natural science" (Oxford Reference). ESTC locates 10 copies of the first issue in the UK and 12 in the US, but it is unclear how many of these are large paper (ESTC states that about 15 were printed). RBH lists, since 1975: two other copies of the first issue, a large paper copy in a presentation vellum binding in 1996 and the Honeyman copy (not stated to be large paper); and two. Seller Inventory # 5962

Bibliographic Details

Title: Instauratio magna [Novum Organum]

Publisher: Joannem Billium, London

Publication Date: 1620

Edition: First edition.