London: A. Millar; J. R. Tonson; William Bowyer, 1765. Early edition. Bound to style in modern quarter calf over marbled boards with gilt and morocco labels to spines. All edges speckled blue. Measuring 285 x 225mm and collating complete including frontis to volumes I-IV (no frontis called for in V) and folding tables in volumes I and IV: [12], xlii, [2], 575, [1]; [6], 658; [12], vi, 7-681, [74]; [2], xx, 529, [1]; vii, [1], 604. Top edges a bit dust-stained. Bookplates of Desmond Morris to front pastedown of each volume. Volume I with occasional marginal notes in pencil and with page 135 misnumbered 134. Volume III with chips, closed tears, and archival reinforcements to preliminary leaves not affecting text; additional chipping and marginal loss to pages 537-542 with no loss to text. Volume IV with mispaginations throughout and all text continuous; scattered foxing throughout. Volume V with paper flaw affecting the page numbers of 259-260 and a printer error to the numbering of page 391. Overall a clean, pleasing, and sturdy library set of this early edition of Bacon's most influential works.

"Francis Bason was one of the leading figures in natural philosophy and in the field of scientific methodology in the period of transition from the Renaissance to the early modern era. As a lawyer, member of Parliament, and Queen's Counsel, Bacon wrote on questions of law, state, and religion as well as on contemporary politics; but he also published texts in which he speculated on possible conceptions of society and pondered questions of ethics...To the present day, Bacon is well known for his treatises on empiricist natural philosophy (The Advancement of Learning, Novum Organum Scientiarum) and for his doctrine of the idols" (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). His wide range of writings are reflected in this early five-volume set edited by Thomas Birch, giving readers an opportunity to engage with, study, and appreciate Bacon's diverse intellectual contributions.

ESTC T88309. (Item #5684)