What was Francis Bacon's Sylva Sylvarum?

Sylva Sylvarum, which translates to "Forest of Materials," is a work of natural history written by the English philosopher Sir Francis Bacon and published posthumously in 1626. Notably, Bacon's utopian novel New Atlantis was originally tucked into the back of this longer natural history work when it first appeared. The text reflects Bacon's broader philosophical advocacy for inductive reasoning, empirical observation, and the systematic investigation of nature during the Scientific Revolution.

What we know

• Sylva Sylvarum is a work of natural history authored by Sir Francis Bacon. [4]
• Sylva Sylvarum was published posthumously in 1626. [4]
• Francis Bacon was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Lord Chancellor. [2, 3]

Where to go next

• a case in pointWhat is the utopian novel New Atlantis about?
• the bigger pictureHow did Francis Bacon contribute to the scientific method?
• whoWho was Francis Bacon?
• how we knowWhat were the major works written by Francis Bacon?
• compared withWhat was Giambattista della Porta's Magia Naturalis?
• an unexpected connectionHow does a natural history text connect to a utopian society?Francis Bacon's pioneering utopian novel New Atlantis was originally published unheralded, tucked directly into the back of his natural history work Sylva Sylvarum.

Sources

• [1]Francis Bacon (Wikidata Q37388) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Francis Bacon · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Works by Francis Bacon · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]New Atlantis · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Magia Naturalis · CC BY-SA 4.0