Essays Moral, Economical, and Political

Boston: Published by Oliver and Munroe, No. 78, State-Street, 1807. First American edition of the first complete edition of Bacon's "Essays" and first separate American edition. xv, [xvi, blank], [2, Contents], 270 pp. 1 vols. 12mo. Contemporary tree calf, board edges worn. New morocco spine with black morocco label. Sound, clean copy. First American edition of the first complete edition of Bacon's "Essays" and first separate American edition. xv, [xvi, blank], [2, Contents], 270 pp. 1 vols. 12mo. In 1688 William Bradford had printed the first American appearance of Bacon's essays in the third part of a collection edited by Daniel Leeds entitled "The Temple of Wisdom for the Little World". Bacon's theories and his reasoning methods were popular during the Jeffersonian era. Jefferson was a strong advocate and believer in his inductive scientific methods and Baconian theory was evident in many of his actions, he even catalogued his library using "Bacon's classification of the human mind into 'Reason,' 'Memory,' and 'Imagination.'" (Brown, "Thomas Jefferson" p.196). The Baconian theory "that one is educated partly by teachers, studies, and books, but mostly by experience, carefully observed and thoughtfully considered [was] especially appealing in America where Bacon was virtually canonized during the eighteenth century... as one of the true progenitors of the modern world." (Cremin, L. A. "American Education", 1970, p. 102). Lilly "Grolier 100 Books Famous Books in English Literature" 13; Shaw and Shoemaker 12020. For the first complete edition of 1625: Gibson 13; Pforzheimer 30