Free eBooks Francis Bacon: The Major Works (Oxford World's Classics) Available To Downloads
This authoritative edition brings together an extensive collection of Bacon's writing--the major prose in full, together with sixteen other pieces not otherwise available--that reveals the essence of his work and thinking.About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
Series: Oxford World's Classics
Paperback: 864 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press; 1 edition (July 15, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0199540799
ISBN-13: 978-0199540792
Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 1.7 x 5.1 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #219,412 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #59 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > Medieval Thought #167 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > Movements > Humanism #170 in Books > Literature & Fiction > British & Irish > Literature
I actually recommended this edition in another review over the Penguin collection of Bacon's essays - and I still do: there is more here, and it is cheaper. But this is still one of the most horrible pieces of scholarship I have ever come across. Vickers, the editor, has decided that there is absolutely no distinction between what a reader actually needs to know and what Brian Vickers happens to know.Before I give some examples, here is the editor defending himself in the Preface: "Many of Bacon's words have totally changed their meaning since he wrote, and not to be aware of their intended sense means that readers would receive at best a vague impression."Now, let me give an example of his helpful elucidations. I am choosing a passage literally at random. Here is first sentence of "Of Death."Men fear Death, as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other. Certainly, the contemplation of death, as the wages of sin and passage to another world, is holy and religious; but the fear of it, as a tribute due unto nature, is weakHow many footnotes does that passage seem like it requires? Perhaps one, two at most? Vickers gives us six. He helpfully explains that "go" can also mean "walk" - which certainly opened up the entire passage for me. He cites a scholarly paper that analyzes Bacon's use of the word "death" (I'll go right out and read that one); he explains every possible allusion that the passage might contain, and also points out that "tribute" means "something owing."I want to quote one more example, to show how seriously pathological this guy is.
I want to echo and expand upon Gulley Jimson's points about Brian Vickers' insane butchery of Bacon's text. As other reviews have pointed out, there are 500 pages of Bacon here and 300 pages of small font apparatus. The selection of Bacon is as thorough as one will find in a cheap paperback edition, though the decision to entirely omit Bacon's Latin work is misguided at best. A selection of Bacon that does not include Novum Organum cannot accurately be titled "The Major Works." However, since this edition contains The Advancement of Learning, the complete Essays, and the New Atlantis, it is useful to anyone looking for a basic Bacon. If you are looking for a particular work, you would do better to buy a different edition (the Oxford Francis Bacon edition of Advancement, the Penguin or OFB Essays, the other Oxford New Atlantis).However, as I've been reading through the Essays, I've found myself more and more frustrated by Vickers' ridiculous annotations. Maybe one in forty pertains to something that really requires footnoting. The real problem is that the excessive annotation seriously impacts the readability of the text. Almost every sentence includes a footnote, and often more than one. The result is that the visual field of the text is heavily studded by the little bullets that Oxford uses to mark annotations. It's very distracting. I'd compare it to how reading a book that someone else has underlined has a hard to explain but clear impact on one's ability to read.The other problem is that this incessant annotation makes Vickers the editor who cried "footnote!". I'm sure there are enlightening footnotes buried here, but the intolerable uselessness of most of them has made it so that I have largely decided to leave off consulting the apparatus altogether.
Three Early Modern Utopias: Thomas More: Utopia / Francis Bacon: New Atlantis / Henry Neville: The Isle of Pines: Sir Thomas More's "Utopia", Francis Bacon's "New A (Oxford World's Classics) Francis Bacon: The Major Works (Oxford World's Classics) Three Early Modern Utopias: Thomas More: Utopia / Francis Bacon: New Atlantis / Henry Neville: The Isle of Pines (Oxford World's Classics) A History of Philosophy, Volume 3: Late Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy: Ockham, Francis Bacon, and the Beginning of the Modern World La Nueva Atlantida - Sir Francis Bacon (Spanish Edition) Lord Byron: The Major Works (Oxford World's Classics) Samuel Johnson: The Major Works (Oxford World's Classics) Four Major Plays: Doll's House; Ghosts; Hedda Gabler; and The Master Builder (Oxford World's Classics) Four Major Plays (Oxford World's Classics) Complete Works of Francis Parkman Jr. (Illustrated): (Ten Books with Illustrations) Complete Sonnets and Poems: The Oxford Shakespeare The Complete Sonnets and Poems (Oxford World's Classics) Twelfth Night, or What You Will: The Oxford Shakespeare Twelfth Night, or What You Will (Oxford World's Classics) The Oxford Shakespeare: Julius Caesar (Oxford World's Classics) Selections from the Canzoniere and Other Works (Oxford World's Classics) Even the Rat Was White: A Historical View of Psychology (Allyn & Bacon Classics Edition) (2nd Edition) Francis of Assisi and His World (Ivp Histories) Major Problems in American Immigration History: Documents and Essays, 2nd Edition (Major Problems in American History) Glazunov - Concerto in E-flat Major, Op. 109; Von Koch - Concerto in E-flat Major: Music Minus One Alto Saxophone Concerto No. 2 in G Major & Concerto No. 3 in E-flat Major Arranged for Two Pianos (Dover Music for Piano) Vivaldi - Concerto in E Major, Op. 3, No. 12 & Concerto in C Major, Op. 6 "Piacere" RV 180: Music Minus One Violin (Music Minus One (Numbered))
