Details
BUNYAN, John (1628-1688). A Discourse upon the Pharisee and the Publicane. London: for J. Harris, 1685. 12° (142 x 82mm). (Lacking portrait, title-page with inner margin restored, some discolouration and marginal stains, a few leaves restored.) 19th-century brown morocco (rubbed at extremities). Provenance: Sir R. Leicester Harmsworth (sale, Sotheby's 27 January 1947, lot 2800); George Goyder (bookplate). FIRST EDITION second issue. Wing B-5512; Harrison XXXIV.
John BUNYAN. The Acceptable Sacrifice: or the Excellency of a Broken Heart: shewing the Nature, Signs, and Proper Effects of a Contrite Spirit. London: for Elizabeth Smith, 1691. 12° (137 x 83mm). Collation: A-H12 I6. (Printing flaw on H2v affecting a few letters, some light spotting, lacking final free endpaper.) Contemporary blindstamped speckled sheepskin, flat spine (rubbed, head of spine with small tears at hinges). Provenance: William Trimming (ownership inscription dated 1699). Second edition. Wing B-5481 cites three copies only of this edition (in the British, Bodleian, and William A. Clarke Libraries). Harrison XLII.
John BUNYAN. The Acceptable Sacrifice: or the Excellency of a Broken Heart: shewing the Nature, Signs, and Proper Effects of a Contrite Spirit. London: for Elizabeth Smith, 1691. 12° (132 x 80mm). Collation: A-H12 I6. (Title defective at lower corner with loss of one word, corner of A10 torn affecting a few letters, tears repaired in C1 and E3, printing flaw on H6v affecting a few letters, soiling, spotting, final leaf frayed affecting text.) Contemporary blindstamped calf, flat spine (restored and rebacked retaining original backstrip). Provenance: George Goyder (bookplate). Second edition. Wing B-5481; Harrison XLII.
John BUNYAN. A Relation of the Imprisonment of Mr. John Bunyan, Minister of the Gospel at Bedford. London: for James Buckland, 1765. 12° (155 x 93mm). (Title trimmed at lower edge, small piece missing from lower corner of C2 affecting two letters, small hole C3 affecting a few letters.) Contemporary blindstamped sheep (rebacked retaining original backstrip, restored). Provenance: George Goyder (bookplate). Harrison LVII.
Together these works represent a fair history of the problems Bunyan had with censorship and publication. The first work is an attack on those who compromise their ideals in the face of public prosecution. Later editions had to be revised in part so as not to appear too seditious. The Acceptable Sacrifice is more innocuous, and its delay in printing until after Bunyan's death remains an enigma. The nature of A Relation of the Imprisonment could under no circumstances be published during his lifetime, and in fact had to wait 77 years before it saw the light of day. (See Christopher Hill, A Turbulent, Seditious and Factious People: John Bunyan and his Church, 1628-1688, Oxford, 1988.) (4)
John BUNYAN. The Acceptable Sacrifice: or the Excellency of a Broken Heart: shewing the Nature, Signs, and Proper Effects of a Contrite Spirit. London: for Elizabeth Smith, 1691. 12° (137 x 83mm). Collation: A-H12 I6. (Printing flaw on H2v affecting a few letters, some light spotting, lacking final free endpaper.) Contemporary blindstamped speckled sheepskin, flat spine (rubbed, head of spine with small tears at hinges). Provenance: William Trimming (ownership inscription dated 1699). Second edition. Wing B-5481 cites three copies only of this edition (in the British, Bodleian, and William A. Clarke Libraries). Harrison XLII.
John BUNYAN. The Acceptable Sacrifice: or the Excellency of a Broken Heart: shewing the Nature, Signs, and Proper Effects of a Contrite Spirit. London: for Elizabeth Smith, 1691. 12° (132 x 80mm). Collation: A-H12 I6. (Title defective at lower corner with loss of one word, corner of A10 torn affecting a few letters, tears repaired in C1 and E3, printing flaw on H6v affecting a few letters, soiling, spotting, final leaf frayed affecting text.) Contemporary blindstamped calf, flat spine (restored and rebacked retaining original backstrip). Provenance: George Goyder (bookplate). Second edition. Wing B-5481; Harrison XLII.
John BUNYAN. A Relation of the Imprisonment of Mr. John Bunyan, Minister of the Gospel at Bedford. London: for James Buckland, 1765. 12° (155 x 93mm). (Title trimmed at lower edge, small piece missing from lower corner of C2 affecting two letters, small hole C3 affecting a few letters.) Contemporary blindstamped sheep (rebacked retaining original backstrip, restored). Provenance: George Goyder (bookplate). Harrison LVII.
Together these works represent a fair history of the problems Bunyan had with censorship and publication. The first work is an attack on those who compromise their ideals in the face of public prosecution. Later editions had to be revised in part so as not to appear too seditious. The Acceptable Sacrifice is more innocuous, and its delay in printing until after Bunyan's death remains an enigma. The nature of A Relation of the Imprisonment could under no circumstances be published during his lifetime, and in fact had to wait 77 years before it saw the light of day. (See Christopher Hill, A Turbulent, Seditious and Factious People: John Bunyan and his Church, 1628-1688, Oxford, 1988.) (4)