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John Donne. Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, and severall steps in my Sickness. Digested into 1. Meditations upon our Hu...
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Description
Very rare first edition of Donne's most popular prose work
John Donne. Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, and
severall steps in my Sickness. Digested into 1. Meditations upon
our Humane Condition. 2. Expostulations, and Debatements with God.
3. Prayer, upon the several Occasions, to him. London: Printed
by A[ugustine]. M[athewes]. for Thomas Jones, 1624.12mo (135 x 76 mm). Type-ornament headpieces. C2 a cancel as usual; signature on A2 misprinted A3. Early 19th-century vellum, gilt-lettered morocco spine label, edges stained red; cloth folding case.
"...never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee."
FIRST EDITION. In 1623, Donne fell ill with what may have been typhoid fever, and his recovery was very uncertain. During all his illness his mind was incessantly at work, a feverish restlessness kept him still with the pen in his hand from day to day, and almost from hour to hour. He kept a journal of his words and prayers, and hopes and yearnings during his sickness, and on his recovery, he published the results in this book. It was very widely read at the time, and went through several editions during the next few years.
Each of its 23 devotions consists of a meditation, an expostulation, and a prayer, all occasioned by some event in Donne's illness, such as the arrival of the king's personal physician or the application of pigeons to draw vapours from Donne's head.
It contains what would become Donne's most famous lines (Meditation 17): "Perchance hee for whom this Bell tolls, may bee so ill, as that he knows not it tolls for him... No man is an Island, intire of itself; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as it a Promontorie were, as well if a Mannor of they friends, or of thine owne were; Any Mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee."
VERY SCARCE: According to online auction records, only three copies have appeared at auction since 1971, including the Martin copy in 1990, and the Pirie copy in 2015, which sold at Sotheby's New York, for $30,000.
Condition: Binding a little soiled, with minor rubbing to extremities; spine label a little chipped and rubbed. Lacking terminal blank Ee4; tiny wormhole at extreme upper gutter margin on C-F; some very slight worm damage to extreme upper margins on F10-H5; upper printed borders slightly shaved or cropped on a few leaves; headlines and pagination just shaved by binder on Ee2-3; occasional very pale marginal spotting; minor dust soiling; the occasional rust stain or spots.
References: ESTC S109806; Grolier, Donne 17; Grolier, Wither to Prior 281; Keynes, Donne 34; STC 7033.
Provenance: P. B. Bobin [or Robin?] (early 19th-century signature on front free endpaper). From the William A. Strutz Library.
View all of [The William A. Strutz Library ]
Auction Info
2024 June 27 Important English and American Literature: The William A. Strutz Library, Part I, Rare Books Signature® Auction #6295 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
June, 2024
27th
Thursday
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