Sylva Sylvarum: or A Natural History, in Ten Centuries to which is added The Novum Organum; The New Atlantis; History Natural and Experimental of Life & Death: or, Of the Prolongation of Life; and Articles of Enquiry Touching Metals and Minerals by Bacon, Francis [Rt. Hon. Francis Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Albans]

London: Thomas Lee, 1676. Edited by William Rawley. Tenth edition ( xiv, 235 pp.; iv, 32 pp.; ii, pp. 239- 267; ii, pp. 271- 340; ii, pp. [221]- 227). Page 226 misnumbered as p. 234 in Articles of Enquiry, which itself is separately numbered; separate title page for each inclusion. Small folio (20 cm x 30 cm) in full contemporary leather, five raised bands, gilt title and decoration to spine; absent any frontis, plates; chips to margin of first few pages; hinges and tips expertly repaired. Contemporary marginalia, in ink and pencil, has been retained as part of the ‘life’ of this book, which from all appearances has been closely studied and carefully kept. A pleasing copy of this tenth edition-- a sort of Bacon anthology, originally compiled by Rawley shortly after Bacon’s death, and exemplifying the ‘new thinking’ which anticipated later systematic scientific investigation, formation of Royal societies, and the like. In view of the importance usually attached to Bacon’s work, then, it is worth noting the last entry in Sylva Sylvarum is ‘His Lordships usual Receipt for the Gout.’ Consult his receipt for gout.