The Brick Row Book Shop

Pseudo-Martyr: John Donne's First Book

[DONNE, JOHN].

Pseudo-Martyr. Wherein Out of Certaine Propositions and Gradations, This Conclusion is Euicted. That Those Which Are of the Romane Religion in this Kingdome, May and Ought to take the Oath of Allegeance . . .

Place and Imprint: London: Printed by W. Stansby for Walter Burre, 1610.
Edition: First edition.
Bibliographical References: Keynes, John Donne, 1; ESTC S109984; STC 7048; Pforzheimer 298.
Condition: Minor wear to the binding including some rubbing to the joints, a few minor water-stains and occasional foxing, some line borders trimmed by the binder in the upper margin, as usual with this book, still an unusually large, fresh, and attractive copy, enclosed in a custom clamshell box.
Book ID: 25340

Physical Description

4to, 18th century half calf and marbled boards, black leather spine label, gilt rules and lettering. With the two leaves following the Table of the Chapters, containing the Advertisement to the Reader and the Errata.

Comments

John Donne's first book, a polemical treatise on the supremacy of the King, which some Donne scholars have maintained was written specifically at the behest of King James. Donne argues that those Roman Catholics who refuse to submit to the authority of the King have brought punishment on themselves and are therefore not real martyrs but "pseudo-martyrs." As Keynes notes, Pseudo-Martyr was "carelessly printed and contains a large number of misprints." The errata records a long list, at least 18 of which have been corrected in the text of this copy in a contemporary hand. Ink signature of "Sam Foley / 1689" in the upper margin of the title-page; below that is an earlier signature that has been marked through, apparently by Sam Foley, and is not decipherable by ordinary means.

Price: $20,000.00