BACON, Francis.

Francis Bacon s Advancement of Learning , originally issued in 1605, is the first original book of philosophy in English. First published in 1623, 'De Augmentis' was Part I of Bacon s empiricist project, the Great Instauration of knowledge and learning, never completed; Part II was Novum Organum (1620). Here, Bacon presents a general description of the sciences including their divisions as they presented themselves in his time [as well as] a systematic survey of the extant realms of knowledge, combined with meticulous descriptions of deficiencies, leading to his new classification of knowledge (Stan. Enc. Phil.).
Formerly in the library of Thomas, Baron Fairfax of Cameron (1692-1781). The Fairfaxes of Virginia were America s only peerage , after the Baron, moved there to manage the family estate in the mid-C18. In 1719, he had become sole owner of the Northern Neck Proprietary, the western boundaries of which were disputed. After a visit in the 1730s, Fairfax was back in Britain to clarify the legal boundaries of his land along the Potomac and Rappahannock. A 1745 decree by the Privy Council granted him Shenandoah Valley and further surrounding territories, for the eye-watering total of c.5 million acres instead of the 1.5 million originally reckoned hence an area larger than Wales. In 1747, he returned to Virginia to complete the land surveying; one of the hired surveyors was the young George Washington. The Baron remained Washington s lifelong friend and mentor; Washington was godfather to Thomas, the Baron. Thomas father, Bryan, Baron, was a frequent correspondent with Washington, for 30 years. After the Revolution, the Fairfax estate was the only survivor in British hands.