Beschreibung:

BACON, Sir Francis (1561-1626). The Essayes or Counsels, civill and morall ... Newly written. London: John Haviland for Hanna Barret and Richard Whitaker 1625.
The Doheny copy of the first complete edition, and the last edition to appear during Bacon's lifetime; finely bound. This edition, the twelfth overall, "contains fifty-eight essays and is the text most commonly reprinted today. For this reason the present edition ranks in importance with the first of 1597” (Pforzheimer). "Of Bacon's literary, as distinct from his philosophical and professional, works, by far the most popular and important are the 'Essays.' These, in their earliest shape, formed part of a very small octavo volume, published in 1597, and were ten in number ... Finally, the book in its present form, and containing fifty-eight essays, was published in 1625, the year before Bacon's death. This greatly enlarged edition ... may be regarded as a storehouse of the practical wisdom gathered during its author's lifetime, a life singularly rich in opportunities for such accumulations" (DNB). The present copy is the second issue with cancel title-page. STC 1147; Pforzheimer 30.
Quarto (184 x 130mm). (Washed and pressed, title page with the very upper right corner of ruled border supplied in pen facsimile and a few other small paper repairs, three tiny holes to final leaf.) Modern full red crushed levant morocco gilt by Sangorski & Sutcliffe (touch of rubbing/repair to head of spine and upper joint). Custom slipcase. Provenance: Estelle Doheny (morocco bookplate; her sale, Christie's, 1-2 February 1988, lot 330).