Bunyan, John

The Pilgrim's Progress : from this world to that which is to come ; delivered under the similitude of a dream ; wherein is discovered the manner of his setting out ; his dangerous journey, and safe arrival at the desired country [...]. In Three Parts]

Thomas Kelly, c, 1820. Octavo, half-leather binding with marbled sides, b&w engraved frontis plate and frontis potrait of John Bunyan, colour folding hand-coloured map of the "Road from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City", b&w engraved plates, pp xii, 419, i. N,d, c. 1820. Rebound by Cottage Bindery of Bath, with gilt-decorated raised bands, blindstamped decorations in panels, giltstamped title on leather title panel. The colour folding map has minor restorations, including a repaired chip to the outside corner. Occasional minor chips and creases to page edges, outside text area. Nineteenth-century inscriptions to front endpapers, previous owners' inscription to reverse of frontis plate, dated 1839. Very good condition.

"The Pilgrim's Progress" is a classic Christian allegory and a key work of English modern literature. This "Kelly's Edition" includes a life of Bunyan and extensive commentary notes on the text: "explanatory notes by W. Mason, Esq.; and evangelical reflections, selected from the Rev. J. Newton, J. Bradford, Dr Hawker, and others". "The Pilgrim's Progress", first published in 1679, has been described as the first novel written in English. According to literary editor Robert McCrum, "there's no book in English, apart from the Bible, to equal Bunyan's masterpiece for the range of its readership, or its influence on writers as diverse as William Hogarth, C. S. Lewis, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Charles Dickens, Louisa May Alcott, George Bernard Shaw, William Thackeray, Charlotte Brontë, Mark Twain, John Steinbeck and Enid Blyton." An attractive, beautifully bound edition of this classic. With the coloured folding-map which is often missing but present here. Item #106118

Price (AUD): $495.00   Other currencies