The New Atlantis

Description

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

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Customer Reviews

Love Atlantis
Its a short book, and ends unfinished. Yet for a days worth of reading, you can find a lot of inspiring ideas.

2010-07-09 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Not What I Thought it Would Be
It's not what I thought it would be. It seemed to be advertised as an esoteric Rosicrucian document, but it's really just Bacon's portrait of an ideal society. It's true that society has Rosicrucian ideals, but it is mostly a politcal book.

2007-07-30 | Comic Book Philosopher (Spring City, PA USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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Bacon is a rarity: an author that who writes with verve and insight!
This is a fascinating read and my favorite of all Bacon's writings.

2005-09-20 (Sausalito, CA) | Helpful Votes: 5 | Rating: 5

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A Must Have for the Esoteric Scholar!
I loved this book. It tied so much together for me regarding the mystery schools. If you are an esoteric fanatic like me, then this must be added to your collection.

2005-09-06 (NYC, USA) | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 5

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A Mystical Journey to America
This is Francis Bacon's model for America. Many believe it is the vision of the ancient spiritual adepts. Fascinating reading and most provoking.

2005-08-25 | Helpful Votes: 5 | Rating: 5

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Francis Bacon: The Major Works (Oxford World's Classics)

Product Details

• ISBN13: 9780199540792
• Notes: BUY WITH Aplomb, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and overhaul to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
• Shape: New

Description

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.

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Customer Reviews

good book with thick notes
The book arrived sooner than I expected. Although the delivery of amazon was as bad as before and the cover pages of book was broken by the turbulence of delivery as before, the first touch of the book still gives me comfort.

the book begins with a long preface, and two pages of chronology. The content was about 2/3 of book, and the rest 1/3 was the note. I am familiar with author's name Bacon, and I have recited the essay 51, of study, but I never expected such a long note at the end of the book. It indeed need such a long list of note. The English author used was not modern and the grammar was strange, let alone the anecdotes and jargon.

It is a good book, and it costs time to comprehend it, and it worth the time.

2010-07-01 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Notes comprise half the book! GOOD!
Since Bacon expected his readers to understand the historical context of his writings, it is necessary for non-historians to dig into the notes FIRST! And this book has ample notes.
A bit of Latin wouldn't hurt either.

2009-07-21 | OldSpook (VA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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Missing a key text
I was very disappointed that Vickers decided to leave out NOVUM ORGANUM, one of Bacon's most important work, with one of the first descriptions of the scientific method, empirical science, and his key critique of the four "idols." Vickers says that he decided to give only the works in English, and NOVUM ORGANUM was written in Latin. There are translations available, however. The title of the book, THE MAJOR WORKS, is deceiving.

2008-08-05 (my office) | Helpful Votes: 14 | Rating: 2

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The Best Bacon in Paperback
I concur with Gulley Jimson about the number of unnecessarily annotated words. The space could have been put to better use: a larger topical index would have been welcome, and I sorely missed Bacon's own apophthegms. But I would emphasize the positive point Jimson makes and do so in capital letters: this is the BEST edition of Bacon in paperback. Every page of the collection shows immense editorial care.

Though Vickers may have overdone the annotation, the notes are nonetheless exceedingly helpful. Vickers goes far beyond defining words. He provides concise and very well informed introductions to each individual piece; he points out how Bacon returns to topics, quotations, and metaphors; he identifies sources and allusions; he provides translations of Bacon's frequent use of Greek, Latin, Italian, and French. If he is overly cautious about how well his readers know English (he admits on p. 493 that he may be excessive), I expect that most readers will be grateful that he meticulously assists with words and phrases that have altered or vanished from use: who now will understand "a seeled dove" or "a net of subtility and spinosity"?

Vickers frankly acknowledges his debts to prior scholars, James Spedding and Michael Kiernan in particular. His introduction is concise, packed with information, and reminds modern readers that Bacon's career was a legal one. Vickers' decision to include two of Bacon's legal charges--one for poisoning, one regarding duels--was inspired; these pieces are short and eye-opening.

All in all, the selection pays tribute to Bacon in the best manner, refreshing his works by presenting them whole, with sympathy and respect, in their perilous historical context.

2007-11-21 | Billinois | Helpful Votes: 21 | Rating: 5

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Meet Brian Vickers, insane pedant
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 weak

How 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. Here is the first sentence from Of Beauty: "Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set, and surely virtue is best in a body that is comely, though not of delicate features; and that hath rather dignity of presence, than beauty of aspect."

This perfectly ordinary sentence has - get this - five footnotes! "Best plain set" is identified as "Mounted simply." Vickers points out that "comely," in Bacon's distant 17th century English, actually means "attractive." That's still what it means, you nutcase! Anyway, he goes on like this for the entire book, and produces a truly astonishing 300 pages of notes for about 500 pages of actual text.

By the end of a single page, any reader who is actually reading Bacon for pleasure will be unable to tell when to flip to the back of the book, because every other word has a footnote mark next to it. The result is that the genuinely necessary notes, which could actually have been helpful, are lost along with the useless ones.

I showed my friend the book and after flipping through it his first reaction was: "Wow, this guy really hates Francis Bacon." And he might be right. Maybe Vickers resents the fact that he has devoted his life to this writer, and wants to bury him under an avalanche of minutae; or, more charitably, perhaps he feels that you are just too dumb to understand Francis Bacon without Brian Vickers explaining every single word to you.

Well, if the first is true, he is failed; and if the second, he is wrong: Bacon is as readable as ever. Ignore the footnotes and enjoy. But somewhere out there is an older edition of the Major Works edited by a sane man, where useful background notes are concisely provided - try to find it. And if there isn't, Oxford needs to hand these great pieces of writing over to someone else.

2006-05-11 (Bethesda, MD) | Helpful Votes: 97 | Rating: 4

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"The Essays" of Francis Bacon

Description

It was Sir Francis Bacon that first coined the term "knowledge is power". During his life time Sir Francis was considered to be one of the most intelligent men alive. This is one of the reason why he is often credited with writing the Shakespeare plays, as it was believed by many scholars that `only Francis Bacon could have been so cleaver.? Bacon's ideas about the improvement of the human condition are still very influential among people interested in motivation and self-improvement today.

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Customer Reviews

keystone reading
This is an excellent writing by one of history/s most brilliant thinkers. I was moved by the thread in thinking and the refinement of these ideas by subsequent philosophers. His thought was sort of loose and seemed to touch many topics with what seems to me to be a less than logical pattern.

2009-04-16 | Robert Smith, Ph.D. (Virginia, USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Francis Bacon: 1909-1992 (Taschen Basic Art)

Description

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Customer Reviews

The horror
What else could a genius that lived through the time he did create that would offer to the world a piece of his soul? Not abstract, not Picasso, not anything but a mix of all in a way that describes what man can do to man. Nothing to live for but the moment and the moment is full of horror - most of the time.

2009-07-11 | William S. Jamison (Eagle River, Ak United States) | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 4

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3 to 4 stars. Up for you to decide.
This book would get a 5 star if instead of Mr. Ficacci writtings, the wholle page would show the reproduction only. Mr. Ficacci whom I couldn't get no indication on who he is, what he does and mainly why was he choosen to comment on Bacon's work, is the weaker part of this book, but not the only.

His comentaries are exorbitants and too prolixic. They are on a wholle very subjective and kind-of-intellectual-like. Not ground based and boring to say the least..

The other drawback might be ( not for me ) that 1/3 of the reproductions , maybe more, are about 1/12 the size of the page, various triptics for instance. Another third about 1/4, and the remain the size of the page (23*18cm)

There is a lot of reproductions, all in colour, samples of his best known and others least known works. Id say 100 counting each triptic as 3.

Comparing with other Taschen publications on painters this is the only book, as far as I know, that they dont print pictures across pages over the bind.

Very good purchase for the price.
.

2009-04-02 (Ouro Preto, Brazil) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 3

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Meet Francis Bacon
I found this book very, very good for those wishing "to meet" the artist as I did. I didn't know anything about Bacon before but had strong decision to explore his paintings and himself as an artist. This book serve well for this purpose.
It contains many illustrations, all in color but it's not all his paintings. Book covers everything mainly in chronological manner, gives overall picture of Bacon's life journey.
Book is very good, maybe even best start for exploring Bacon's art. After that it's easy to orientate and dive deeper. And besides, Taschen series are really known for their good quality, at least in my mind.
Personally me, I started to explore Bacon's art with exactly this book and it very impressed me. In Bacon's art I found something inspirational for myself. Taking into account Bacon art's specific features this book and Bacon art could
be strongly suggested for animators, game developers, painters, concept artists who's into horror genre. But, by Bacon's own words:"I am not seeing any horror in my pictures"!

2008-07-21 (Riga , Latvia) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Great collection, but poorly written
This book contains a superb range of beautifully printed Bacon pieces in full colour, and at a very modest price. However, the drawback of this book is the writings of Luigi Ficacci. His essays on Bacon are excruciating to read and immensely difficult to follow. It's like being at an art gallery and overhearing pretentious art-wannabes trying to outdo each other with big words and obscure psychoanalytical references.

So if you're looking for a book containing a comprehensive collection of artwork by Francis Bacon, this is an excellent and affordable collection. However, if you're looking for insight into this fascinating artist, try "Interviews with Francis Bacon" by David Sylvester, or "Bacon" by Ediciones Poligrafa.

2008-05-01 (South Australia) | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 3

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Succinct yet Inclusive Biography of Francis Bacon through his Art
Luigi Ficacci in his Taschen book FRANCIS BACON: 1909 - 1992 has managed to give us a short survey in words about the particular genius of Francis Bacon, but at the same time presents a solid framework in which to study the primary contributions of Bacon's output by focusing on eleven of the most important works. And while the bookstore shelves have many fine expensive surveys of all of Bacon's works, this little book is a gift to the student whose pocketbook would be stretched as much as the shelf weight by those greater volumes!

Ficacci's writing style is a bit dry, but his points are well made and even better related to the paintings he emphasizes. His work divides Bacon's obsessions into chapters on 'The Poetics of Bacon', 'The Expression of Horror', 'The Human Body', 'The Scene of Tragedy', 'The Portraits', and 'Sources of Inspiration'. Ficacci crowns his book with one of the finest capsulated biographies in print: each phase of Bacon's amazing career is played out in terse paragraphs as a timeline.

Though Ficacci dwells on eleven paintings, this book includes fine reproductions of most of Bacon's works from the earliest to the last, with many little inclusions of works rarely seen in other books. For a superb introduction to one of the 20th century's most influential artists in a readable and affordable scale, this book is among the top choices. Grady Harp, December 05

2005-12-12 (Los Angeles, CA United States) | Helpful Votes: 13 | Rating: 5

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Francis Bacon

Product Details

• Fettle: New
• Notes: BUY WITH Faith, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and benefit to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
• ISBN13: 9780847832750

Description

Francis Bacon’s style was so personal and distinctive that his influence lay more in the intensity of his commitment to art itself than in any direct stylistic legacy. The British artist developed a way of portraying the human body that was unique in the history of painting—usually in isolation, at moments of extreme tension or even pain, distorted like figures from a fantastical nightmare. He remains a towering example to those dedicated to the depiction of the human figure. In addition to 250 full-color plates, this publication also reveals Bacon’s low-art inspirations, including magazine tear sheets, photographs, and imagery from films.

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Customer Reviews

NO fat Bacon
the Francis Bacon book edited by Gale and Stephens is full of insights, images and information I didn't know about Francis Bacon. The text is well organized and recommended for the beginning seeking knowledge about Bacon. The Book makes Bacon accessible to non-art historians and enough insider for art groupies.

2009-08-11 | shopper (ohio) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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A great artist, an average (sometimes pretentious) book
This is the catalogue for the current exhibition held at the Tate gallery in London (the first major retrospective on the artist in England since 1985) and which will later go to the Prado in Madrid and the Met in NYC.

The book starts with six essays that, in a way, sum up everything that has been written or said about Bacon over the past fifty years.

The first, entitled "On the margin of the impossible", attempts to show how Bacon's ambition (which was to finish either "at the National Gallery or in the dustbin") and creative process (towards paintings that are neither abstract nor figurative, but hover between both forms of art to reach a new, deeper reality than that of the mere representational figure)make him difficult to pigeonhole in a classical history of movements in modern art.

The second essay dwells on the artist's critical reception during and after his lifetime and shows how European critics were quick to grasp the importance of the artist whereas Americans were much slower (Bacon's reputation in the US only started to grow in the 1960's, even though the Moma had been the first museum to buy one of his paintings in 1946). Over the years, the names of John Russell, David Sylvester, Michel Leiris, Gilles Deleuze and Michael Peppiatt stand out as major proponents of Bacon's art.

The third essay studies Bacon's paintings as such, emphasizing the problems of interpretation, explaining their sources and stressing the importance of chance in the creative process (what Deleuze and Bacon himself used to call "the accident", a term also present in the art of photography, so important to Bacon).

The fourth essay dwells on the importance of film (whether documentary or fiction)in Bacon's work.

The fifth essay studies the importance of male and physique magazines as inspirational material and, in this respect, draws a comparison between Bacon's and Keith Vaughan's art, both artists (without knowing each other personally)revealing - according to the author of this essay - many common traits (notably in the relationships they had with their respective lovers).

The last essay specifically deals with Bacon's iconography, the sources and references that abound in all his paintings, most of them discovered in his studio at the time of his death and which have prompted a complete reassessment of his work.

After this somewhat cumbersome start comes the catalogue itself, divided into eight themes (like "crucifixion", "portrait", "zone", "crisis", "late", etc)each one gathering a group of paintings around it.

On the whole, this book is sometimes interesting to read (and sometimes less so, especially in the fifth essay which does not add anything to the literature on the artist: comparing somewhat pompously Bacon to a minor British artist whose only real point in common with him was his homosexuality ...)but disappointing as far as the quality of the reproductions is concerned, with very few close-ups of details.

I own more than a dozen books on Bacon and this one qualifies as average, both for the text and the reproductions.

2008-10-03 (Florianopolis, Brazil and Paris, France) | Helpful Votes: 16 | Rating: 3

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Francis Bacon: Anatomy of an Enigma

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• Notes: BUY WITH Coolness, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and serving to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
• ISBN13: 9781602397620
• Prerequisite: New

Description

An outstanding and authoritative biography of one of Britain's greatest masters. Francis Bacon was one of the most powerful and enigmatic creative geniuses of the twentieth century. Immediately recognizable, his paintings continue to challenge interpretations and provoke controversy. Bacon was also an extraordinary personality. Generous but cruel, forthright yet manipulative, ebullient but in despair: He was the sum of his contradictions. This life, lived at extremes, was filled with achievement and triumph, misfortune and personal tragedy.

In his revised and updated edition of an already brilliant biography, Michael Peppiatt has drawn on fresh material that has become available in the sixteen years since the artist’s death. Most important, he includes confidential material given to him by Bacon but omitted from the first edition. Francis Bacon derives from the hundreds of occasions Bacon and Peppiatt sat conversing, often late into the night, over many years, and particularly when Bacon was working in Paris. We are also given insight into Bacon’s intimate relationships, his artistic convictions and views on life, as well as his often acerbic comments on his contemporaries. 29 b&w illustrations.

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This frank portrait of Anglo-Irish painter Francis Bacon (1909-92) contains enough juicy details about his lurid sex life and hard partying to satisfy even the most avid consumers of art-world gossip. But art critic Michael Peppiatt, who knew Bacon personally, also provides insightful analyses of his paintings and the nerve their anguished subject matter and technique struck in the uneasy years following World War II. In addition, Peppiatt illuminates the autobiographical roots of powerful works such as Pope I, Three Studies for a Crucifixion, and In Memory of George Dyer.

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Customer Reviews

The Best Biography of Bacon
If one is searching for a "Life" of F. Bacon, this is the one to read. It has been revised and updated from the original hardcover edition, which was praised when it first appeared. Peppiatt knew Bacon during the later periods of the painter's life. There are many descriptions of first-hand experiences. Among critical studies focusing on Bacon, three writers who knew Bacon during his lifetime are: John Russell (Thames & Hudson), David Sylvester (interview collections) and Michel Leiris (Rizzoli, 1983 in English translation). All three are excellent.

2009-07-11 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Able biographical accompaniment to paintings
Read this revised edition of Peppiatt's biography of Francis Bacon while attending frequently the exhibition of the latter's work at New York City's Metropolitan Museum. It provides a necessary complement to the paintings which are, apparently, deliberately wrapped in a shroud of mystery. For the average reader without access to a representative sample of Bacon's work, I strongly urge purchase, at the least, of one of the inexpensive books with good reproductions. Peppiatt's book is sparsely illustrated in black and white nullifying the attempt to provide the reader with a sense of what created the impact of his work and what emerged from the experiences of the book's leading character.
The authors close relationship with the very much senior painter endows the book with the strength of such familiarity...and with its weakness. No question that he believes in the "greatness" of the painter nor that he accepts the impact that Bacon clearly had upon him as the common impact he had upon others. Nevertheless, forewarned by the author himself, the reader can make due allowances in reading so as to benefit from the intimacy out of which the portrait emerges while retaining the necessary objectivity to know that the authors views are not representative of more critical approaches both to the person and the art.
In short, a fine work to have in hand as one seeks to grasp one of the most financially and critically acclaimed of near contemporary artists. There is a bit too much of the adulatory rhetoric, "great" and "masterpiece" for my taste but this is a common failing of art historians (among others). The book is clearly written and the evidence sufficiently diversified to allow the reader to make some preliminary judgments of the man and his work. Needless to say, the violent imagery of the paintings and homosexuality (most of Bacon's life was led before it became "Gay") of the life need elicit no evaluative response from the reader. As Bacon would no doubt assert, take it or leave it, but retain the right to condemn or condone in terms of one's own vision.

2009-06-26 | irv (Freehold, NJ, USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 4

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One Of The Best Written Biographies Ever!
I wish my late fiance (British) had lived to see me delving into one of his favorite artists, Francis Bacon. He would be stunned at my complete turn-around. Until recently, anything Francis Bacon was a total turn-off. His work, anything about him. Then I saw LOVE IS THE DEVIL and cannot get enough information about this brilliant but demon-driven man. This book is so intelligently and sympathetically written. It is a rather extensive book that I hated to put down. The author must have interviewed every person Bacon had known since childhood to get the background he covers. Family, nanny (who played an enormous role in his childhood and adulthood), the men, the women, the enemies, the friends, his work, his feelings about his work. I bought my copy from amazon.com but it came from the UK in no time. If you have any desire to learn anything about the artist (who was born 100 years ago this year), I suggest you get a copy immediately before it is out of print. I am hoping that the retrospective of his work that is supposed to take place this year in NYC will generate enough interest that these books will become readily available again. See LOVE IS THE DEVIL (with Derek Jacobi & Daniel Craig) and then read this book. This book defies the myth that Bacon met George Dyer when he fell from his skylight one night to rob him. Farson's book says this is the story he always heard. It is the first scene in the film. But Peppiatt claims they met in a bar. I rather prefer the falling from the skylight version myself. Once you have read Farson and Peppiatt's books, get 7 REECE MEWS FRANCIS BACON'S STUDIO. A small, lovely color photography book of his studio after his death. You have to read that one with a magnifying glass so that you don't miss a single item on the page. Well worth the trouble. Graham would be so proud of me! Finally, I understand what all the fuss was about.

2009-03-20 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Anatomy of an enigma
Dear readers,

- Have read many biographies
- This rates as one of the best
- The ultimate Bacon biography
- It will shock you
- Peppiatt has captured Bacon to a tee
- Highly recommend
- It will allow you to enter the mind of probably the greatest artist of our generation

2008-09-29 | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Under the carpet view
Michael Peppiatt has resources for his book that defy belief. Francis Bacon was indeed an enigmatic person and artist and I suppose that the lurid details of his existence may shed some light on the paintings. But not, I think, to the degree that the author would have us believe. Some of the most glorious works of art have been created by personalities who border on beastial (Richard Wagner, Diego Rivera, Rodin et al) and so I suppose that knowing that Bacon was night gutter tramp may illuminate some of his portaits. The book does add to the literature on Bacon by introducing a number a fascinating photographs and for the reader who needs to know it all, well here is that cluttered closet.

2001-06-13 (Los Angeles, CA United States) | Helpful Votes: 4 | Rating: 4

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