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1894. Other volumes in this set include ISBN number(s): 076612813X. Volume 2 of 2. Comprising Books 3, 4, 5 of Cipher Story. This is a deciphering or translation of Bacon's Philosophical Works, the Plays and other works, originally written in Latin, to extract the connected Story through the means of the Cipher Keys. Bacon gave the decipherer liberty to exercise your own judgment and give it a smoothness when it lamely halts. ... Read more

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Francis Bacon's secret story
You may have heard about the controversial claim that Bacon wrote the Shakespeare plays. You may have even heard about the secret codes he hid in the plays to tell his story.But have you ever read his story?Here you have the real thing, de-coded, in dramatic detail, in his own voice, and it is a fascinating ride. You hear about his being really the son of Queen Elizabeth, but forbidden to say so, of his courtship of a French princess, of his agony at having to help sentence his brother to death, etc. etc. The story in itself is convincing. ... Read more

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The "Essays" of Francis Bacon cover the fields of philosophy, science, history and law. Bacon believed that they would "last as long as books last", and it is for them that he is primarily remembered. The essays counsel on civil and moral life. This book is based on the 1625 edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Beautiful Words
This edition has an introduction by Christopher Morley who describes the genius of Lord Bacon. None can match the written word of with Lord Bacon.The essence of the human mind is everywhere the same and Bacon captures the thoughts and reasoning on diverse fields of philosophy, science, history and law. Bacon believed that they would "last as long as books last", and it is for them that he is primarily remembered. The essays counsel on civil and moral life. This book is based on the 1625 edition

The first edition was published in 1597 and has the following title page:

"Essays, Religious Meditations, Places of persuasion and dissuasion, Seene and allowed.At London, Printed for Humfrey Hooper, and are to be sold at the black Bear in Chauncey Lane 1597"

Bacon has the ability to "showed man to himself"He is truly the first Modern Mind.

The book is leather-bound and the typography matches the old English words.

Style plus Substance
There is little doubt that for the modern reader, usually the college undergraduate, reading Bacon's essays is a challenging obstacle.It is not simply that his essays were written more than four centuries ago and that the English language has evolved considerably since then.The problem lies more in the style in which Bacon felt most comfortable. His erudition was immense.His audience was not meant to be the ill-trained lower class tradesman still fumbling with the rudiments of Basic English.Rather, he wrote for readers much like himself, highly conversant in history, literature, foreign languages, and philosophy.

When Bacon first began to write his essays, his primary model was Montaigne, who wrote in the highly personalized, discursive style that Bacon felt ill-equipped to emulate.Bacon was one of the first of his era to write in the terse epigrammatic style in which much is said in few words.Today, many of his sentences read as if they were taken straight from Chinese fortune cookies. Bacon favored the use of balanced phrases and parallel construction.Such writing calls attention to itself, even to the point where the means may overwhelm the message.Much of his work is replete with references to classical writers of antiquity.He often drops a vague reference to an unnamed Greek or Roman, whose identity must be supplied by editors in the form of helpful footnotes.The cultural illiteracy of modern youth is evident since it does little good to know the name without also knowing a great deal about the life and times of that writer, most of which cannot be squeezed into a footnote.Bacon also uses highly Latinate sentences with wild abandon.Since most readers today have trouble recalling their high school Latin, footnotes are again necessary.

Bacon begins his essays with a helpful one sentence summation of his thesis.Sometimes he takes a definite stand as in "Of Parents and Children" and in others as in "Of Marriage and Single Life" he does not.The reader must ascertain which essay provides this definitive result, and with Bacon, this is not always an easy task.Part of the problem that readers today have with plowing through Bacon's essays is that they have been trained to look for ideas in the context of the whole paragraph, which usually boils down to main idea, supporting detail, and conclusion.Bacon, however, did not achieve his fame in that manner.The persistent reader will discover that the key to Bacon is to look for meaning not in the macroscopic world of the paragraph but in the microscopic world of the individual phrase or even the solitary word.Bacon's penchant for the pithy phrase and illusive word often carry the linguistic day.The rest of the paragraph is often no more than a refutation or support of that word or phrase.

Adding to Bacon's aforementioned writing quirks is yet another: his use of antithesis, which refers to statements for or against a topic.Bacon often wrote his essays as if he were setting up both sides of a debate, thus necessitating giving evidence from both sides.Since his observations frequently dealt with generalized assessments of human life and how it should be lived, the reader had to assimilate these contraries, sometimes without even knowing which stand Bacon favored. And it is here that Bacon connects style to content.Since Bacon favored the inductive method of thought and research, one that proceeds from evidence to conclusion, it made sense for him to observe the world by noting both sides of a controversial issue.The reader, then, in the absence of Bacon's blunt support of one side or another, had to examine the evidence before reaching his own conclusion.Since the target audience was the seeker of power or the man about town, Bacon wanted to train that man to look beyond the obvious, to coolly and deliberately assess his position before advancing. This presupposed a mind much like Bacon's own.Modern readers are not used to such a cold and calculating approach to life, and it is as much this as any linguistic device that renders Bacon's essays both challenging and discomforting.

Review from Branddenotes.blogspot.com
Awesome book, especially considering when it was written. Bacon apparently was one of the first Europeans to re-introduce the materialism of Epicurus that had been suppressed by organized religious fanatics, aka the Church. Also, Bacon was a lawyer (before writing philosophy), and so he's the only lawyer I know of who has made a lasting contribution to the human race.

Civil and Moral Essays
Francis Bacon is one of the authors whose ideas pervade society, but whose work very few of us have read.For example, many of us know of Bacon's saying that "Knowledge is Power" only through Economist Alfred Marshall. However, Bacon's analysis of how human science progresses is an essential classic. The modern scientific method owes an enormous debt of gratitude to Bacon's induction method. Bacon bases his induction method on observation and experiment.His Essays - this book - makes observations about life in all its varied dimensions. As an economist my reading focused on essays with a material content such as the essays "Of Innovations", "Of Riches", "Of Customs and Education", and so on. However, I have browsed or will soon browse other essays of the book.

Overall, it is impressive that one person did so much that has remained so insightfully informative for so long!Although the reading is slowed by the archaic and old style of the language of the book, I strongly recommend this book to all readers including young readers seeking to build their character.

Amavilah, Author
Modeling Determinants of Income in Embedded Economies
ISBN: 1600210465

Get more bacon
Why get just the essays from Penguin Classics when you can get Bacon's 800 page major works from Oxford World's Classics (which includes the essays) for pretty much the same money?The difference is in cents - and you get five hundred pages more with Oxford, in an equally sturdy, attractive, and well-edited edition. ... Read more

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Works of Francis Bacon
Works of Francis Bacon. Essays, Valerius Terminus of the Interpretation of Nature, The Advancement of Learning, The Wisdom of the Ancients, Novum Organum ... Published by MobileReference (mobi)

Kindle edition by MobileReference is sufficient for anyone who wants to learn about Bacon's contribution to empiricism and the scientific revolution. It is an especially valuable source for anyone who has to write a substantial research paper. ... Read more

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from the publisher's website (GeneralBooksClub.com). You can also preview excerpts of the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Volume: 1; Original Publisher: Howard publishing company; Publication date: 1893; Subjects: Drama / Shakespeare; Literary Criticism / Shakespeare; ... Read more

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"Ninety-five percent of people are absolute fools, and they're bigger fools about painting than anything else. . . . Hardly anyone really feels about painting: they read things into it--even the most intelligent people--they think they understand it, but very, very few people are aesthetically touched by painting."--Francis Bacon

Controversial in both life and art, Francis Bacon was one of the most important painters of the twentieth century. His monumental, unsettling images have an extraordinary power to disturb, shock, and haunt the spectator, "to unlock the valves of feeling and therefore return the onlooker to life more violently." Eminent writer and curator David Sylvester provides the definitive account of the career of an artist whose friend and collaborator he was for more than forty years. Drawing on his unparalleled personal knowledge of Bacon's inspirations and intentions, he first offers a critical overview of the development of Bacon's work from 1933 to the early 1990s, and then addresses its crucial aspects. Sylvester also reproduces previously unpublished extracts from his celebrated conversations with Bacon in which the artist speaks about himself, modern painters, and the art of the past. Finally, he gives a brief account of Bacon's life, correcting errors that elsewhere have been presented as facts. Accompanying the incisive and revealing text are reproductions of almost every Bacon work discussed, including twelve triptych fold-outs. The most complete work on Bacon yet, this book constitutes a portrait of one of the creative geniuses of our age by a writer of comparable distinction. 230 illustrations, 84 in color. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Through the glass, brightly
Few artists of the 20th century have engendered as much controversy while having such an enormous impact on coming to grips with personal demons on canvas as Francis Bacon.Once again the erudite scholar David Sylvester has written about his friend in a way that makes all other collections of images and gossips about Bacon pale in comparison.This book is a true "retrospective", not only because if can look at the entire output of this enormously gifted painter, but it puts Bacon in a perspective of comparison and study of influences that span all of art history. Sylvester manages all this with his usual eloquence of writing style.This book is an academic treatise, but is is also a biography that looks carefully and thoughtfully at the mad mind and paintings of Francis Bacon.Highly recommended for Bacon devotees as well as those who still seek to understand the past century's art journey.

Looking Back At Francis Bacon
A truly excellent addition to any art enthusiast's collection of artists' books and mongraphs.This piece is a must-have for any fan of the artist's work...it fills in quite a few holes regarding Bacon in relation to his work and his working process.Even if you are unfamiliar with the artist's work, you will find Sylvester's prose will easily entice you into taking a good long look at one man's dark, yet triumphant take on humanity and the world we live in.Brilliant! ... Read more

Product Description
This Halcyon Classics eBook contains four works by sixteenth century scientist and philosopher Sir Francis Bacon.Includes an active table of contents for easy navigation.

Contents:

The Essays of Francis Bacon
The Advancement of Learning
The New Atlantis
Valerius Terminus: Of the Interpretation of Nature

... Read more

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Francis Bacon, lawyer, statesman, and philosopher, remains one of the most effectual thinkers in European intellectual history. We can trace his influence from Kant in the 1700s to Darwin a century later. The Advancement of Learning, first published in 1605, contains an unprecedented and thorough systematization of the whole range of human knowledge. Bacon’s argument that the sciences should move away from divine philosophy and embrace empirical observation would forever change the way philosophers and natural scientists interpret their world.

Amazon.com Review
While he didn't exactly invent science, Francis Bacon is its best-known early promoter. The Advancement of Learning is his 1605 argument in favor of natural philosophy and inductive reasoning, and it is still vigorous and cogent today. Though using the language of Shakespeare, the book remains largely accessible to modern readers--still, a bit of classical knowledge is helpful.Shaking off the centuries-old domination of Aristotle, Bacon advocated building scientific theories on facts and observations rather than pure reason; little has changed in our approach to understanding the world since then. Of greatest interest to historians and philosophers of science, the book will also appeal to those curious about the underpinnings of today's naturalistic thinking. --Rob Lightner ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A biographical portrait of Bacon
Francis Bacon was a man filled with contradiction. He was consumed by two ambitions: 1) an insatiable thirst for knowledge and, 2) an endless "striving for political favor and position." The latter ambition finally did him in, bringing about his impeachment from Parliament for taking bribes, losing the high position (Lord Chancellor) he had spent his whole life striving for. Five years of life were left to Bacon after his disgrace, time spent in scientific and writing pursuits, but the damage was done.

Ms. Bowen does not write a full and detailed biography here, but rather more a profile or "evocation." She sacrifices the impartial and detached position of the historian clearly in her prologue by declaring her great admiration for Bacon. And although she doesn't hide or ignore his faults, it's difficult to read any page and not feel Bowen's awe and respect for her subject. There is much to admire about Bacon: his broad and deep learning (he seemed to be an "expert" on every subject, from law to botany); his wit (this a verbal exchange between Bacon and his arch-enemy Edward Coke: "Mr. Bacon!" says Coke. "If you have any tooth against me, pluck it out, for it will do you more hurt than all the teeth in your head will do you good." "Mr. Attorney!" (Coke was the Attorney General), retorts Bacon. "I respect you, I fear you not, and the less you speak of your greatness, the more I will think of it." (Ouch!); his books such as NOVUM ORGANUM and THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, still regarded highly today; his life-long wish to found a university in England that would employ the scientific method in its pursuit of knowledge and not the old schoolman methods.

But there is also much to disdain: his bluntness; his naivete with regard to his enemies; his inability to control his spending impulses; his almost outrageous ostentation with his scores of servants, men in waiting, etc. He also had what came to become a most unpopular belief, that the king was above the law.

What makes Bowen's portrait of Bacon worth reading is her marvelous writing style. She is a descendant of the old-school of historical writing (Parkman and Prescott come to mind) that was as much of a literary bent as an historical one. She writes beautiful prose, worthy of her subject and the age in which he lived. Reading her book is a most enjoyable experience.
... Read more

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A thoroughly revised introduction, new editorial footnotes, and an updated bibliography complete this revised edition of New Atlantis and The Great Instauration. Presented here is the standard nineteenth-century text of Bacon's works as annotated by Jerry Weinberger, editor. Also included are a list of principal dates in the life of Francis Bacon and a note on the texts. ... Read more

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Francis Bacon (1561-1626) is one of the most important figures of the early modern era.His plan for scientific reform played a central role in the birth of the new science.The essays in this volume offer a comprehensive survey of his writings on science, including his classifications of sciences, his theory of knowledge and of forms, his speculative philosophy, his idea of cooperative scientific research, and the providential aspects of Baconian science.There are also essays on Bacon's theory of rhetoric and history as well as on his moral and political philosophy and on his legacy. ... Read more

Product Description
This Halcyon Classics eBook contains four works by sixteenth century scientist and philosopher Sir Francis Bacon.Includes an active table of contents for easy navigation.

Contents:

The Essays of Francis Bacon
The Advancement of Learning
The New Atlantis
Valerius Terminus: Of the Interpretation of Nature

... Read more

Product Description
British artist Francis Bacon (1909-1992), one of the foremost artists of the 20th century, is known for his expressive figurative paintings. Perhaps Bacon's most famous image - the so-called "screaming pope" in Study after Vel zquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X (1953) - became the touchstone for the longest series of paintings in his career, the Papal Portraits of 1953. In 1953 "haunted and obsessed by the image...by its perfection", Bacon sought to reinvent Vel zquez's 17th-century Portrait of Pope Innocent X (1650) in the paintings that are the focus of this book. Francis Bacon replaced the grand, official state portrait with an intimate, spontaneous "candid camera" glimpse behind the well-ordered exterior. While the Spanish master Vel zquez portayed the pope ex cathedra, Bacon captured him in camera, as if behind a closed door or through a one-way mirror. This series of eight papal portraits, painted during a period of just a few weeks in the summer of 1953, was brought together for the first time by noted Bacon scholar Hugh M.Davies for a 1999 exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, along with several other works from the same period, including Sphinx I and two Study after Vel zquez paintings from 1950. This book includes an essay by Davies, discussing the artist's influences and sources of imagery for the series, and a previously unpublished interview that Davies conducted with Bacon in 1973. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

L'art mis en morceaux
Le style de Francis Bacon melange l'art d'antan, les artistes contemporains, le photojournalisme et le subconscient de Sigmund Freud. Par exemple, l'Etude d'apres le portrait du Pape Innocent X par Velazquez rappelle le Portrait du Cardinal Filippo Jacinto par Titian et, par des vetements ensanglantes, le style de l'egouttement par Jackson Pollock. Dans le Fragment de la crucifixion la figure qui bat les bras rappelle la Descente de la croix par Rubens et La chahut par Georges Seurat. Surtout dans ses peintures de la crucifixion du Christ, Francis Bacon devient photojournaliste, avec ses themes preferes de l'inhumanite, l'isolement, la trahison et le voyeurisme. Il devient psychanalyste dans le Portrait de Georges Dyer accroupi au style des baigneuses d'Edgar Degas, et dans l'Etude de la nue avec la figure dans le miroir c'est le style des voyeurs de l'arriere-scene par Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Alors lire le livre veut dire que l'on finit par apprendre un peu de l'histoire et de la technique de l'art.

Broken Art
FRANCIS BACON puts elements from the art of earlier centuries and the subconscious of Sigmund Freud into the bluntly powerful style of news photography. That style works for his themes of isolation, Peeping Toms, predatory people's inhumanity to others, and treachery, all of which can be found in his crucifixion scenes. I find his art cleverly disturbing, particularly in the way that he reworks Old and New Masters: Day- and Twilight-type figures from Michelangelo's de Medici tomb statues in "Triptych - studies of the human body"; Matthias Grunewald's "The mocking of Christ" in the bandaged eyes of the lone female witness to "Three studies for figures at the base of a crucifixion"; Titian's "Portrait of Cardinal Filippo Archinto" and Jackson Pollock-type drip in the curtain veiling and bloodspattered robe of "Study after Velazquez's portrait of Pope Innocent X"; Rubens' "Descent from the cross" and Georges Seurat's "La chahut" in the figure leaning over the T-shaped cross and the flapping arms showing successive motion in "Fragment of a crucifixion"; Diego Velazquez's "Las meninas" in the right panel-reflected artist of "Studies from the human body"; Rembrandt-type meat side in the European formal portrait-styled "Painting 1946"; Edgar Degas' tub-bathing women in "Portrait of George Dyer crouching"; Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec-type backstage observers in "Study of nude with figure in a mirror"; Marcel Duchamp's "The bride stripped bare by her bachelors, even (the large glass)" in the frustrated, mechanical love of "Three studies of figures on beds"; and Henri Michaux in "Statues and figures in a street" full of tiny dark figures. So Hugh Davies and Sally Yard's helpful text and well-chosen illustrations help reader understanding of what modern art is about and how one painter fits with other times. The authors help me go beyond theme, into art technique: their book applies Max Doerner's THE MATERIALS OF THE ARTIST AND THEIR USE IN PAINTING, Hazel Harrison's MASTER STROKES, and Waldemar Januszczak's TECHNIQUES OF THE WORLD'S GREAT PAINTERS. ... Read more

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The statesman, scientist, and philosopher Francis Bacon (1561-1626) lived a divided life. Was he a noble scholar, or a conniving political crook? Was he a homosexual? Lisa Jardine and Alan Stewart draw upon previously untapped sources to create a controversial, nuanced portrait of the quintessential "Renaissance man," one whose achievements, while enormous, were nonetheless sadly circumscribed by his class and station.Amazon.com Review
For modern readers--especially those in the sciences who revere him as the father of the inductive method--Francis Bacon (1561-1626) is the model of an English Renaissance man whose towering intellectual achievements somewhat paradoxically set him floating above mundane historical particulars. British academics Lisa Jardine and Alan Stewart fling Bacon back into the hurly-burly of Elizabethan and Jacobean politics, where he unquestionably belongs. Indeed, their magnificently detailed rendering of Bacon's bumpy progression to the pinnacle of royal office-holding, as James I's lord chancellor (he was forced to "retire" in 1621 after a bribery scandal), makes his scientific and philosophical contributions even more remarkable. How on earth did he find time to write The Advancement of Learning (1605) and Novum Organum (1620) at all? In the authors' deliciously dense re-creation, notable for their shrewd evaluations of often misleading written source material, Bacon seems almost exclusively preoccupied with intriguing for promotion, struggling to pay debts incurred by his lavish lifestyle, and currying favor with both Elizabeth's and James's male favorites. (The latter tactic leading to contemporary charges of "sodomy" that the authors do not necessarily dismiss.) Some may regret that this warts-and-all portrait does not spend more time on Bacon's books, but Jardine and Stewart brilliantly succeed in their stated goal of providing "a rich context for those works." Seldom has a scholarly tome so palpably conveyed the gritty, sweaty, faction-ridden reality of being a working politician at the turn of the 17th century. --Wendy Smith ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Flawed diminishing of a great British genius
Writing a biography of a famous person carries an ethical responsibility to convey, or at least try to convey, a sense of what made that person great. If one wants to understand the genius and polymath that was Sir Francis Bacon (the authors of this work deny him his title) then this book will lead away from such discoveries. There is evidence of diligent research that makes the book interesting to scholars and by and large it is well written and readable, but Baconians will be offended by its persistently mean-spirited view of a shallow self-serving man, wheeling and dealing in the cause of his own advancement. There is ample evidence that Bacon was loved by contemporaries (friends) who appreciated him as a poet,a philosopher,a wit,a superb speaker and a man of generosity whose contribution to English Rennaissance thought was of inestimable value to mankind.You will not find him here.

All about the life, little about the man
This book is in many ways superb.The writing is smooth, the judgments intelligently based on evidence, the archival research prodigious.But it leaves one with oddly little sense of Bacon the man.Partly that's because the authors don't speculate, confining themselves to the historical record.That's a great virtue, but it also means we never get a sense of Bacon's relations with his wife, or even his sexuality.We hear about his chronically poor health, but not what his symptoms suggest to a modern doctor.Also, the authors don't examine Bacon'swritings in any sort of detail.This is definitely a "life and times", not a "life and letters."

The authors rarely step back to give an overall picture.There are no scene-setting panoramas, no authorial intrusions to explain why, for example, they decided to go into such detail about the activities of Bacon's brother Anthony.One gathers that the authors believe Anthony and Francis were working closely together, but I would have liked to have their thinking explained more fully.(Although Anthony is practically the main character of the first quarter of the book, his death is mentioned only in passing.)

These criticisms reflect my occasional irritation with the book, but they don't detract from the authors' tremendous achievement.If the authors had included everything I missed, the book would have been quite a bit fatter, and that would have been a negative, too.As it is, the book is (just barely) small enough to be read without risk of injury, unlike so many other modern biographies.

The book contains a great deal about Bacon's political activities, as another reviewer has noted.That's because a great deal of Bacon's life was occupied with political activities.If all you want to read about is Bacon's scientific works, you shouldn't read a biography of their author.In the case of Isaac Newton, there is practically no difference between the life and the scientific work.But in Bacon's case, there is not only a difference but a dichotomy.He was a successful lawyer and politician who also happened to kick-start the Scientific Revolution.

To summarize, Hostage to Fortune provides all the details, but not the outline.My advice would be to familiarize yourself with the basic course of Bacon's life and his achievements before reading this book, so you can fully appreciate its richness.

Mixed Feelings
A powerhouse of academic scholarship, this book is the most tedious and boring biography I have ever read.Too many pages on Bacon's political career, too little on his scientific achievements.

Bacon for sceptics.
While the book starts slowly with what seems to be an overly detailed account of Bacon's family and their activities, it is a clear headed and balanced account of a man who achieved fame across the centuries, as well as in his own time---but never great virtue, character or happiness in his own life.It is quite readable, and even engrossing in the second half.Scholars will appreciate the careful documentation and extensive reference to sources and supporting materials. ... Read more

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Francis Bacon's "Inquiry Touching Human Nature" is an engagement at a fundamental level with the political and philosophic thought of one of the founders of modernity, Francis Bacon. Bacon had a comprehensive vision of the human situation. And because he saw the costs or dangers of modern life as clearly as he predicted its achievements and boons, Bacon is a thinker who addresses directly and deeply our own perplexities. ... Read more

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With the publication of Utopia (1516), Thomas More provided a scathing analysis of the shortcomings of his own society, a realistic suggestion for an alternative mode of social organization, and a satire on unrealistic idealism. Enormously influential, it remains a challenging as well as a playful text. This edition reprints Ralph Robinson's 1556 translation from More's original Latin together with letters and illustrations that accompanied early editions of Utopia.

This edition also includes two other, hitherto less accessible, utopian narratives. New Atlantis (1627) offers a fictional illustration of Francis Bacon's visionary ideal of the role that science should play in the modern society.Henry Neville's The Isle of Pines (1668), a precursor of Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, engages with some of the sexual, racial, and colonialist anxieties of the end of the early modern period. Bringing together these three New World texts, and situating them in a wider Renaissance context, this edition--which includes letters, maps, and alphabets that accompanied early editions--illustrates the diversity of the early modern utopian imagination, as well as the different purposes to which it could be put. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

This edition NOT recommended for certain teaching purposes
This edition of More's Utopia (and Bacon, and Neville), is a valuable volume in one respect: it makes available historic early translations/editions of these three texts. However, this aspect makes it less than desirable for one major intended audience of Oxford Classics: students in college courses. In particular, the 1557 edition of More's Utopia, while a fascinating read from a historical perspective (e.g. the use of "weal-public" alongside synonyms like commonweal, commonwealth, and republic), is simply too difficult and antiquated for most college students to understand and appreciate what is going on in this important text. I'm a college instructor and I ordered this volume because it seemed to offer a good value for all three works. But my students found it MUCH too hard to understand (and I have to admit, the Utopia text was even slow going for me), so I had to post an online version in more contemporary English for them to read, and the week's discussion was hijacked by this problem of the text. Bottom line, if you are looking for a course text that will engage your students, keep shopping, because this edition will only frustrate them (and you, when you have to find another text of Utopia for them to read).

Interesting tales, particulary the lesser-known "Isle of Pines"
As usual, Oxford does a good job with translations, introductions and notes.

More's "Utopia" is the longest and best of the three works presented in this book, at least as far as fleshing out the details of how a utopian civilization would really look, particularly when situated among other civilizations.But, since most people are familiar with it to some degree, I'll discuss the other two writings in more detail.

Bacon's "New Atlantis" is the least satisfying of the three utopian civilizations.First, it isn't complete, barely beginning before it ends.Second, it seems to be more about scientific specialization (i.e. how the New Atlantic culture has made great strides in various fields of science [e.g. agriculture, astronomy]) than about utopian society per se.It is interesting how Bacon relates these islanders, far from Europe, to the famed ancient Atlantean society.

Neville's "Isle of Pines" is an interesting tale of shipwreck and discovery.A ship sinks near the coast of a faraway island, killing everyone except a man with the last name "Pine" and a few women, one of whom is black.What follows is a fascinating story of old/new-world racism and debauchery.Basically, the Pine fellow starts bedding ALL the women (two of whom, if I recall, are sisters) because, you know, they're not getting rescued any time soon and they've got to keep civilization going.Eventually, they all dispense with the wearing of clothes.Then ALL the women get pregnant and turn into baby factories and everyone breeds like rabbits until there are hundreds of people within one or two generations.The interesting tack that Neville takes is that Pine only sleeps with the black woman at night, she "craftily" sneaking into his bed.In addition, her progeny happen to be the bad apples of the island, which is discussed from the perspective of some visiting sailors many years after the shipwreck.Fascinating view into the European mind from several centuries back.

Good collection
I have enjoyed Oxford World Classics for a long time because of the notes, biographies, and other content that is added to the book to supplement the stories themselves. This is a decent collection of three stories, with all the necessary notes and such. If you're curious about Utopia, buy this book and you'll get two other visions of Utopia as well, making for a good overall reading experience (once you get past the old language, which is rather clunky at times, but that is how it was written) and you'll learn a few things too.

Prose which still affects our thinking
Literature before James Joyce, before Jane Austen, before Daniel Defoe: NoUlysses, no Emma, no Robinson Crusoe - for modern readers it is hard toimagine a stock of English literature without the existence of these andother important writers and their `novels'. What kind of literature couldone refer to in a pre-novelistic age? As a matter of fact, there wereauthors, such as Sir Thomas More and Sir Francis Bacon, who wrote prosewhich, indeed, still affects our thinking. However, neither More nor Baconused English, but chose Latin as their original means of expression. Forwhat reasons? And none of these authors was in fact a free-lance writer -they were all occupied in public and political spheres. What made themactually write fictional works? How does their fiction relate to theircultural environment - or, what was regarded as `fiction'? These textscover a century of political, religious, scientific and literary debatesand gave rise to a new understanding of knowledge, and introducedinfluential literary devices. ... Read more

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Francis Bacon is celebrated as one of the most important British artists of the twentieth century. From the 1940s to his death in 1992 he worked consistently as a painter, ignoring other passing, fashionable trends in art. Throughout his career, the human figure was the dominant subject in his work: his paintings of men and women go far beyond a simple likeness and instead are portraits of complex psychological states. This book has been produced to coincide with the 2005 summer exhibition, which will be held at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh. In two essays, the book examines fifty of some of his most intense works: his small-format portraits. This will be the first museum exhibition devoted to this fascinating aspect of his work and the first on Francis Bacon in Scotland. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Searching into the intimacy of the human.
The catalogue for a 2005 exhibition held at the Scottish National Gallery of Art and at the Hamburg Kunsthalle, this book focuses on a crucial body of works that Bacon painted all throughout his career. Most of these works are small-scale, which means that little is lost of the gripping effect they usually have on first-hand viewers, through reproduction (all the more so as the illustrations are excellent). After an introductory essay that aimsat debunking the various clichés that have marked the gradual public acceptance of Bacon's work (the distortion of the human figure as a reflexion of the brutality of our post-war world is one of those clichés)by showing how these portrait reveal the intimacy and innermost personality of the models, the book follows a chronological pattern, grouping the paintings by periods and models (early heads of the 40's and 50's, Men in Blue of 1954, Peter Lacy, George Dyer, Henrietta Moraes, Lucian Freud, Isabel Rawsthorne). A special section is devoted to the self-portraits from 1963 to 1987.

A surprisingly high-quality publication that is one of the few reasonably priced books on Bacon.

disappointing
I expected something else. In 'Van Gogh and Expressionism' the Baconimages are vibrant and colorful and interesting. They include studies for portraits of Van Gogh as well as self portraits. They look much like the cover of this book. Unfortunately, the only image I liked WAS the cover. Had I looked through this book in a bookstore I would not have purchased. Perhaps i am not much of a Bacon 'fan'. Let that be a lesson to me.....more research in the future before purchasing.

Examining the Essence of the Model and Exposing the Passion
FRANCIS BACON: PORTRAITS AND HEADS is a superb catalogue that accompanied an exhibition in the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh last summer and unlike most of the Bacon retrospectives, this exhibition focused entirely on the many heads Bacon painted. As other artist come and go Francis Bacon continues to be one of the more 'published' artists of the twentieth century and it is refreshing to see that there are still new things to say about the work of one of the most significant painters in recent years

Included are self portraits, portraits of famous people some of whom actually commissioned portraits while the majority are of friends, lovers, fellow artists, and images from photographs. Bacons small works carry as much power as the large canvases, perhaps that is due to the lack of need to place the figure in a constructed environment or space. Or perhaps when Bacon concentrated on only the head, his probing eye could explore and paint the model's psyche (as well as his own responsive psyche!).

The reproductions are superb, on excellent paper, and given full attention in the catalogue. There are two fine essays in addition to the obligatory Introduction and comments from the curatorial staff. Though most of these paintings can be found in other catalogue raisonnes of Bacon's work, seeing the small head portraits in a single space is a fine idea and one from which we continue to learn about just what made Bacon unique and inimitable! Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, August 06


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Product Description
Contains 58 Essays plus Appendix and 31 titled "The Wisdom of the Ancients; A series of Mythological Fables." 310 pages of the preeminent English philosopher of the 16th century. One of the many volumes of the Black's classical series. ... Read more

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The age of Francis Bacon marked the beginning of a long period when empirical science was seen as the key to progress in extending man's control over nature. Recently, however, a breakdown of confidence in the outcome of worldwide industrialism and a growing concern over threats to the earth's ecosystems have brought mounting criticism of specialized, exploitative science. Demands for conservation and social responsibility are leading to a reappraisal of the whole philosophy of science that has been dominant for three centuries, and many observers see this as a new scientific revolution, comparable in significance with that of the seventeenth century. ... Read more

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PREFACE LIKE all grea~ philosophica.l works, the Adtancement oj Leanl-lo,g is constructed 011 a systematic plan, of which the ana.lysis is as follows:- BOOK I. THE DIGrilTY OF LEARNING. To the King: introductory (p. 3). A. Negative part; the discredits of learning (pp. G-40). 1. - from divines (p. C). 2. -from politics (p. 11). 3. --fl'om learllt~d mer. themselves (p. 18). 1) from their fortune (p. 18). 2) from their mannerS (p. ~l). 3) from their studies (p. 2u), including- (1) three dise:.tses of learning (p. 26). (2) its pecclllt humonrs or errol'S (p. 3f». B. Positive part: t.he dignity of lcnowledge (pp. 40- 66 ). 1. Divine evidences (p. 10). 2. l1nmn.n proof~ (p. 47). BOOK II. THE SURVEY OF LEARNING. 'fo :·he King: acts performed by KillgS and others for t.he ad 'ancement of learning (p. G7). Three parts of h Ullian learning (p. 75) ;- A. History (p. 76). 1. Nat ural. 2. Civil. R F. c.c 1 e ~i::l f;tj ~R.1. 4. J.Jiterary. B. Poetry (p. 89). 1.

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Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.

Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the difficult to read text. Read books online for free at www.forgottenbooks.org ... Read more