London: Printed for Henrie Tomes, 1605. First edition. Quarto (leaves measuring 171 x 130 mm). Erratically paginated, as usual, but collating complete. [1], 45, [1]; 118, [3] pp. With the terminal blank, and without the two errata leaves found in a few copies (per ESTC, "Most copies were evidently issued without these") and probably of later issue. A Very Good+ copy. Late seventeenth- or early eighteenth-century dark brown calf. Gilt spine in compartments with five raised bands and red morocco label. Chipping to label and some scratches to boards. Boards ruled in gilt and board edges with floral roll. Red speckled edges. Ink ownership signatures to upper free endpaper (Charles Speele Palmer and Harriet Warne Palmer, 1929) and a small contemporary ink ownership mark to inner margin of title-page. Marginal tear to one leaf, touching running title, and a few pages with smudging to margins. Contemporary page numbers in manuscript written over the printed numerals at the end of the second book. A very handsome copy.

A precursor to Instauratio magna, Bacon's masterwork, The Advancement of Learning is a cornerstone of Western philosophy and one of the earliest philosophical works to be published originally in the English language. The work, which focuses primarily on the classification of philosophy and the sciences, is divided into two books: "The first was an eloquent and powerful defence of the importance of learning to every field of life...The much longer and more important second book was a general survey of the contemporary state of human knowledge, identifying its deficiencies and supplying Bacon's broad suggestions for improvement" (Oxford DNB). Implicit in The Advancement of Learning is the use of the Baconian method, his groundbreaking strategy of scientific inquiry which formed the basis for the modern scientific method.

[Bound with:] Bacon, Francis. The Essayes or, Counsels Civill and Morall. London: Printed by John Beale, 1639. Later edition (first published in 1597). Collating complete. Quarto. [6], 340, [4, table], [36] pp. The last thirty-six pages comprise The Colours of Good and Evil. With marginal tear to O5 and small hole to Bb7, touching a couple words.

ESTC S100507. Very Good + (Item #8287)