Of the Imitation of Christ.

A KEMPIS, Thomas.

$600.00

Item Number: 133424

London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Co, 1884.

Finely bound example of a Kempis’ classic work. Octavo, bound in full crushed purple morocco by Bayntun for Brentano’s with gilt titles and tooling to the spine, elaborate gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, gilt turn-ins and inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt, tissue-guarded frontispiece. In very good condition. A handsome example.

The Imitation is perhaps the most widely read Christian devotional work next to the Bible, and is regarded as a devotional and religious classic. Its popularity was immediate, and it was printed 745 times before 1650. Apart from the Bible, no book has been translated into more languages than the Imitation of Christ. The text is divided into four books, which provide detailed spiritual instructions: "Helpful Counsels of the Spiritual Life", "Directives for the Interior Life", "On Interior Consolation" and "On the Blessed Sacrament". "The most widely read devotional manual apart from the Bible, perhaps even surpassing the influence of such books as Pilgrim's Progress and St. Augustine's Confession... its message stressed the humble Christian virtues as they were preached in the Sermon on the Mount" (PMM, 13).