BIBLES & RELIGION 72 Extremely rare first editions of the three separately published folio collections of sermons by “the outstanding preacher of his day” and one of the greatest poets in the language (Baugh, et al., 613)—the third, XXVI Sermons, one of only 500 copies printed, is “considerably rarer” than the first two (Keynes)—handsomely bound together in two volumes, with engraved additional title page by Merian featuring a portrait of Donne. John Donne, Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, is remembered as “one of the most celebrated preachers of his age as well as its greatest non-dramatic poet” (Drabble, 283). In 1919, T.S. Eliot praised Donne for possessing “uncommon dignity and beauty—a style which gives at times what is always uncommon in the sermon, a direct personal communication… [He was] an artist doing the traditional better than any one else had done it… putting into the sermon here and there what no one else had put into it” (“The Preacher as Artist”). Of Donne’s estimated 180 sermons, 160 survive. “The sermons are not only rich in learning and curious lore: they are characteristically personal and powerful… [Donne] is the spokesman before God of a virile, unconquerable humanity” (Norton Anthology, 918). Prefixed to LXXX Sermons is the first appearance in print of Izaak Walton’s account of Donne’s life. Donne’s son delayed the publication of the second volume, Fifty Sermons, “apparently for fear of persecution from the Commonwealth government” (Grolier Club 64). Without initial and final blanks. Engraved additional title page is in second state as usual. Regarding XXVI Sermons, “that only 500 copies were printed explains the fact that [it] is considerably rarer than the two volumes of 1640 and 1649” (Keynes). This copy of XXVI Sermons is from the large-paper issue, though the “To the Reader” bifolium inserted after A2 is from a copy of the regularpaper issue. Very faint dampstain along lower and outer edge of both volumes, text generally quite clean. Fifty Sermons title page stained, with a minor repair. XXVI Sermons with marginal tear to G3, not affecting text; final two leaves with some larger marginal repairs, affecting a few words on the last leaf. A handsome copy. “The Spokesman Before God Of A Virile, Unconquerable Humanity” 82 DONNE, John. LXXX Sermons... WITH: Fifty Sermons… BOUND WITH: XXVI Sermons. London, 1640, 1649, 1660-61. Three volumes bound in two. Thick folio, 19th-century half calf gilt. $29,500
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