BACON Sir Francis Novum organum scientiarum.

New edition of Bacon’s major work, the first edition of which was published in 1620.

This “New Instrument of Science” stands in contrast to Aristotle’s logical Organon, and proposes a method of inquiry based on the comparison of phenomena.

The text, composed of aphorisms, analyses the famous “idols”, which are the illusions of the human mind linked to human nature, the individual, language… The Novum Organum is therefore a new scientific method based on experimental induction, that is to say, the observation of individual cases.

Last endpaper stained and lined. Spine partially detached from the book block. Calfskin stained, minor scuffing.

Provenance: Gul. Towlin, contemporary handwritten bookplate repeated on the title page and the first endpaper. He added extensive notes in Latin and English: on the reverse of the frontispiece, a dedication in Latin and a biography of Bacon in English; on the reverse of the 12th leaf, a philosophical commentary in English; in the margin on p. 148, a note in Latin; on the last two blank leaves, a long philosophical poem in English in 9 stanzas, ‘To the Royal Society. Mr Towlin’; Robert S. Pirie (bookplate).