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Travel back in time by holding an old book in your hands - imagine whom may have held in in their hands in the past, imagine all the events it may have witnessed, all the conversations it may have been part of, all the secret letters that may have been hidden within its pages at some point!

And then you open it up and a whole new world opens up!

Who can resist the magic?


Tuesday 7 April 2015

The Parable of The Pilgrim, Written To A Friend - Symon Patrick D.D. - 5th Edition - 1678



Symon Patrick (1626–1707)

"Simon Patrick was an English theologian and bishop. He was born at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, on 8 September 1626. He entered Queens College, Cambridge, in 1644, and after taking orders in 1651 became successively chaplain to Sir Walter St. John and vicar of Battersea, Surrey. He was afterwards (1662) preferred to the rectory of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, London, where he continued to labor during the plague. He was appointed dean of Peterborough in 1679, and Bishop of Chichester in 1689, in which year he was employed, along with others of the new bishops, to settle the affairs of the Church in Ireland. In 1691 he was translated to the see of Ely, which he held until his death on the 31st of May 1707

His sermons and devotional writings are numerous, and his Commentary on the Historical and Poetical Books of the Old Testament, in 10 vols., going as far as the Song of Solomon."


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The
Parable
Of The
Pilgrim:
Written to a Friend.

by
Symon Patrick D. D.
Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty.


The Fifth Edition


London,
Printed by Robert White for Francis Tyton, at the Sign of the three Daggers in Fleet-street. 1678


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This being a most interesting book, perhaps particularly so for those who know John Bunyan's 'The Pilgrim's progress' (1678). There has been much thought and discussions as two whether either copied from the other. 

Although 'The Parable of the Pilgrim' being first published in 1678, it is believed that the work had been writted some years earlier but was given to a private friend to keep.

Some further interesting reading on both books can be found in 'Southey's Life of John Bunyan' and also in 'The History of the Supernatural in all ages and nations' by William Howitt.



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The interior of this book is in great condition for its age as though nobody ever read it. The text block binding is still tight. The hardcover shows clear signs of age but is still intact although with considerable wear to extremities. The leather at the hinges is split but the think 'rope' is still holding it together.

The endpapers are split in halfs. The front endpaper has handwriting in old ink on both halfs; 'George Dolman' and 'George Dolman's Book, Breaston'. On the frontispiece is handwritten in old ink: 'William Dolman's Book' and two small calculations in pencil. The back endpaper is also split in half but is clean. 

The first few pages at the front / end show strong foxing but the rest of the text block is very clean, the print is still crisp.

A total of 527 pages.



 






























This book is available in our online store.



Monday 9 March 2015

The Pilgrim's Progress - by John Bunyan - 1811 Edition, part I & II

John Bunyan (1628 - 1688)


"John Bunyan, author of the immortal allegory The Pilgrim's Progress (1678, 1684), was born in 1628 in Elstow, near Bedford, to Thomas Bunyan and his second wife, Margaret Bentley Bunyan.

John Bunyan had very little schooling. He followed his father in the tinker's trade, and he served in the parliamentary army from1644 to 1647. Bunyan married in 1649 and lived in Elstow until 1655, when his wife died. He then moved to Bedford, and married again in 1659. John Bunyan was received into the Baptist church in Bedford by immersion in 1653.

In 1655, Bunyan became a deacon and began preaching, with marked success from the start. In 1658 he was indicted for preaching without a license. The authorities were fairly tolerant of him for a while, and he did not suffer imprisonment until November of 1660, when he was taken to the county jail in Silver Street, Bedford, and there confined (with the exception of a few weeks in 1666) for 12 years until January 1672.

After 1672 the political situation changed, and except for a six-month return to prison in 1677, Bunyan was relatively free to travel and preach, which he did with immense energy and goodwill. Bunyan's principal fictional works were published during the post-imprisonment period: the two parts of The Pilgrim's Progress in 1678 and 1684

John Bunyan wrote The Pilgrim's Progress in two parts, which he had begun during his imprisonment in 1676. 

Sadly, much of what Bunyan wrote has been forgotten. 

Some say that Bunyan's famous allegory about Pilgrim's journey to the Celestial City has been second only to the Bible itself in the number of copies sold worldwide over the three and a half centuries since it was first published."


More information on John Bunyan can be found here (Poetry Foundation UK)


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The Pilgrim's Progress

"It is regarded as one of the most significant works of religious English literature. It has been translated into more than 200 languages and has never been out of print."






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Frontispiece
Portrait of John Bunyan - Engraved by J. Wallis, from an Origibnal Painting by John Fountain.
London
Published by J. Goodwin, 448 Strand.



Title-page:
The Pilgrim's Progress
by 
John Bunyan

(Engraving:
"I lighted on a certain place where there was a den & laid down by that place to sleep" Part. I
Drawn by C. Mufs.        Engraved by J. Wallis)


London.
Published by I.Goodwin, No 448 Strand.
and sold 
by Davies & Eldridge, Exeter.




Letter press title page:

The
Pilgrim's Progress,
From
This World to that which is to come;

In Two Parts.

Delivered under the 
Similitude of a Dream.

Wherein is discovered,

Part one,
The Manner of His setting out;
His dangerous Journey;
And his safe arrival at the desired Country.


Part two.
The manner of the setting out of Christian's Wife and Children;
Their dangerous Journey, 
And safe arrival at the desired Country.


By JOHN BUNYAN


"I have used Similitudes."  Hosea xii


LONDON:
Printed by J. Wallis, 77, Berwick Street, Soho;
For J. Goodwin, 10 Ave Maria Lane;
Sold by Davis and Eldridge, Exeter;

And may be had of all Booksellers and Newsmen, in Town and Country.

1811

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Click on any of the images below for full size photographs.