"THERE IS A TRUE RING OF GENIUS ABOUT ALL THAT HE SAYS": SCARCE 1740 FOUR-VOLUME FOLIO FIRST EDITION OF BACON'S COLLECTED WORKS, WITH FOUR SPLENDID COPPER-ENGRAVED FRONTISPIECE PLATES

BACON, Francis. The Works of Francis Bacon… With several Additional Pieces, Never before printed in any Edition of his Works. London: A. Millar, 1740. Four volumes. Folio (8-1/2 by 13 inches), contemporary full gilt-ruled brown calf, elaborately gilt-decorated spines, raised bands, green and tan morocco spine labels.

First collected edition of Bacon's Works, a handsome four-volume folio production featuring his Novum Organum, Essays, History of the Reign of King Henry VII and Mallet's Life of Francis Bacon, with four copper-engraved frontispiece plates, scarce in contemporary calf gilt.

"'I have taken all knowledge to be my province,' Bacon declared… He held to his course, if not 'beyond the utmost bound of human thought,' at least to the uttermost edge discernible in his day— and that, too, in every department of intellectual activity. Bacon's day was, perhaps, the latest moment in history when anything like omniscience was within the limits of human attainment; even in his day, Bacon's was, perhaps, the only mind that could achieve it" (Winterich, 205-6). He "stood, like a prophet, on the verge of the promised land, bidding men leave, without regret, the desert which lay behind them… there is the true ring of genius about all that he says" (DNB). Bacon's "insistence on making science experimental and factual, rather than speculative and philosophical, had powerful consequences. He saw clearly the limitations of Aristotelian and scholastic methods… 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). Jefferson ranked Bacon with Locke and Newton as "the three greatest men who have lived, without exception" (1789 letter). 1740 folio edition of Bacon's collected Works: issued along with 50 large-paper copies, no priority established. Containing his philosophical, literary and legal writings, along with essays and letters, some never before published. Featuring: Novum Organum, Advancement of Learning, Instauratio Magna, Natural History, Essays, and History of the Reign of King Henry VII. Volume I with Mallet's Life of Francis Bacon (separately issued in 1760), list of Subscribers' Names bound between Vol. I "Advertisement to the Reader" and first text leaf of "Life." With four copper-engraved frontispieces, including 3 portraits of Bacon (Vols. I and IV after George Vertue, Vol. III after Wenceslaus Hollar), and two folding tables; red- and black-printed general title page (Vol. I) and individual title pages (I-IV), each with engraved vignettes of Bacon. Text in Latin and English. ESTC T52745. Gibson 256. Lowndes I:93. Armorial bookplates. Owner bookplates.

Contemporary calf gilt splendid. A beautiful copy.