Bacon’s Library

Engraved frontispiece illustration to Of the Advancement and Proficience of Learning or the Partitions of Sciences, the first English translation of Francis Bacon’s De Dignitate & Augmentis Scientiarum (1623). The book was published in 1640, being printed in Oxford by Leon. Lichfield, Printer to the University, for Rob. Young and Ed. Forrest. The engraving was made by William Marshall. The translation was done by the Rev. Doctor Gilbert Wats, and the book was dedicated to King Charles I and his son, who later became King Charles II.

The Latin inscription on the plaque above Francis Bacon’s head reads ‘Tertius a Platone, Philosophiæ Princeps’ (transl: ‘The Third from Plato, the Leader of Philosophy’).

Information concerning Bacon’s Library and the design of the Great Instauration, plus facsimiles of the Baconian/Rosicrucian pictures, can be found in the books published by the FBRT (see Publications).

FBRT members receive regular essays and discussion papers on these and other subjects.