The original edition, published in 1597, contained ten essays:
Of Study; Of Discourse; Of Ceremonies and Respects; Of Followers and Friends; Of Suitors; of Expense; Of Regiment of Health; Of Honour and Reputation; Of Faction; Of Negotiating.
The second edition, published in 1612, contained thirty-eight essays: the original ten (with the exception of that on Honour and Reputation), altered and enlarged, plus twenty-nine new ones:
Of Religion; Of Death; Of Goodness and Goodness of Nature; Of Cunning; Of Marriage and Single Life; Of Parents and Children; Of Nobility; Of Great Place; Of Empire; Of Counsel; Of Despatch; Of Love; Of Friendship; Of Atheism; Of Superstition; Of Wisdom for a Man’s Self; Of Regiment of Health; Of Expenses; Of Discourse; Of Seeming Wise; Of Riches; Of Ambition; Of Young Men and Age; Of Beauty; Of Deformity; Of Nature in Men; Of Custom and Education; Of Fortune; Of Studies; Of Ceremonies and Respects; Of Suitors; Of Followers; Of Negotiating; Of Faction; Of Praise; Of Indicature; Of Vain Glory; Of Greatness of Kingdoms.
The third and last edition was published in 1625, the year before Bacon’s death. This contained fifty-eight essays—twenty new ones, and the earlier ones altered or enlarged.
Of Truth; Of Death; Of Unity in Religion; Of Revenge; Of Adversity; Of Simulation and Dissimulation; Of Parents and Children; Of Marriage and Single Life; Of Envy; Of Love; Of Great Place; Of Boldness; Of Goodness, and Goodness of Nature; Of Nobility; Of Seditions and Troubles; Of Atheism; Of Superstition; Of Travail; Of Empire; Of Counsel; Of Delays; Of Cunning; Of Wisdom for a Man’s Self; Of Innovations; Of Despatch; Of Seeming Wise; Of Friendship; Of Expense; Of the true Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates; Of Regiment of Health; Of Suspicion; Of Discourse; Of Plantations; Of Riches; Of Prophecies; Of Ambition; Of Masks and Triumphs; Of Nature in Men; Of Custom and Education; Of Fortune; Of Usury; Of Youth and Age; Of Beauty; Of Deformity; Of Building; Of Gardens; Of Negotiating; Of Followers and Friends; Of Suitors; Of Studies; Of Faction; Of Ceremonies and Respects; Of Praise; Of Vain Glory; Of Honour and Reputation; Of Indicature; Of Anger; Of Vicissitude of Things.
Of Fame, a fragment