The Pilgrim’s Progress From This World to That Which is to Come: Complete in Three Parts: Delivered Under the Similitude of a Dream: To Which is Added, the Life and Death of the Author.

BUNYAN, John.

$4,800.00

Item Number: 146540

Worcester, MA: Isaiah Thomas, 1790-91.

Likely first illustrated edition of one of the most significant works of religious English literature. Small octavo, early half sheep over marbled boards, three frontispieces, illustrated with eleven nearly full-page woodcuts, publisher’s error jump in page number from p. 324 to p. 343. In good condition with rubbing to the extremities and loss to the sheep binding, hand-printed paper label replacing spine label, small ownership tag to the front pastedown, some toning throughout, old tape repairs (versos of frontispiece and title page, page 12, page 83), closed tear to the front flyleaf, some loss to the first frontispiece woodcut which has been removed from the original frontispiece leaf and adhered on one of the front flyleaves with a border drawn in ink, likely an antiquarian repair. Rare and uncommon in trade and at auction.

First published in 1678, John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress remains one of the most significant works of theological fiction in English literature, as well as one of the progenitors of the narrative aspect of Christian media. It has been translated into more than 200 languages, and has never been out of print. It appeared in Dutch in 1681, in German in 1703 and in Swedish in 1727. The first North American edition was issued in 1681. “Bunyan wrote this book in Bedford Gaol, which may bring hope and consolation to some of the myriads of those imprisoned for conscience’ sake since his day… the early demand for the book was not from the learned, but from the pious and the young. It was at first fashionable to sneer at Bunyan as a writer, but the approval of such as Swift, Johnson and Walpole marked a change. Now it is universally known and loved, and the parable of salvation is accepted by all denominations” (PMM 156). It has also been cited as the first novel written in English.