Book excerpt: This edition of Francis Bacon's (1561-1626) The Essayes or Counsels, Civill and Morall, a re-issue of the first critical edition since the nineteenth century, uses modern editorial standards to establish an authoritative, unmodernized text. The textual apparatus includes a comprehensive, chronological record of the substantive readings of all these manuscripts and editions, so that for the first time the evolution of Bacon's texts may be studied conveniently in detail.