The Instauratio Magna: Last Writings

by Francis Bacon

Overview

This volume belongs to the first new critical edition of the works of Francis Bacon (1561-1626) to have been produced since the nineteenth century. The edition presents the works in broadly chronological order and according to the best principles of modern textual scholarship. The seven works in the present volume belong to the final completed stages (Parts III-V) of Bacon's hugely ambitious six-part sequence of philosophical works, collectively entitled Instauratio magna (1620-6). All are presented in the original Latin with new facing-page translations. Three of the seven texts (substantial works in two cases, and all sharing a startlingly improbable textual history) are published and translated here for the first time: these are an early version of the Historia densi, the 'lost' Abecedarium, and the Historia de animato & inanimato. Another—the Prodromi sive anticipationes philosphiae secundae—has likewise never been translated before. Together with their commentaries and the introduction they open the way to important new understandings of Bacon's mature philosophical thought.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198184706
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	08/24/2000
Series:	The ^AOxford Francis Bacon , #13
Pages:	460
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London

Table of Contents

List of PlatesList of TablesReferences, Abbreviations, Sigla, and SymbolsIntroductionThis Edition: Principles, Conventions, and a Note on the TranslationsTEXTS:Historia densi & rariHistoria densi & rari (Rawley's version)Abecedarium nouum naturaeHistoria & inquisitio de animato & inanimatoInquisitio de magneteTopica inquisitionis de luce et lumineProdromi sive anticipationes philosophiae secundaeCOMMENTARIESAPPENDICES:I. The Opuscula varia posthuma and Scripta: Bibliographical Description and Technical NotesII. Signature and Folio References in this Edition with Corresponding Page Numbers in SEHSelect BibliographyGeneral Index

Editorial Reviews

"In this new authoritative edition, Rees has done an invaluable service translating Bacon's Latin texts into "modern English." This should be required reading for anyon who writes on our teaches seventeenth-century/ early modern literature and culture —and I hope it resuscitates Bacon." —Studies in English Literature 1500-1900Rtates Bacon."

From the Publisher