Paradoxes, Problemes, Essayes, Characters written by Dr Donne Dean of Pauls: to which is added a book of epigrams: written in Latin by the same author; translated into English by J: Maine, D.D. As also Ignatius his Conclave, a satyr, translated out of the originall copy written in Latin by the same author; found lately amongst his own papers. DONNE, John Early Books,Philosophy

Full Description: DONNE, John. Paradoxes, Problemes, Essayes, Characters. written by Dr Donne Dean of Pauls: to which is added a book of epigrams: written in Latin by the same author; translated into English by J: Maine, D.D. As also Ignatius his Conclave, a satyr, translated out of the originall copy written in Latin by the same author; found lately amongst his own papers. London: printed by T:N: for Humphrey Moseley, 1652. First edition thus, Keynes 2nd issue. Twelvemo (5 5/8 x 3 1/4 inches; 140 x 82 mm). [16], 219, [1, blank] pp. Ignatius his conclave has a separate title page dated 1653 but the signatures and pagination are continuous. The general title-page within wood-cut border. Woodcut initials and head-and-tail pieces. Complete with the Dedication to Lord Newport, which is almost always a cancel. "In this issue the first quire of eight leaves has been reset but the other sheets have been left untouched. There are certain minor alterations in the title page and the dedication which is printed in a different type contains an additional adulatory passage on A3b."(Keynes 46). Without the second work "Essayes in divinity", often found accompanying, but not required. Bound by Lloyd, Wallis & Lloyd in full 19th century polished tan calf. Boards triple-ruled in gilt. Spine elaborately stamped in gilt. Two red morocco spine labels, lettered in gilt. Board edges gilt. Gilt dentelles. Marbled endpapers. All edges gilt. A small closed tear to final leaf, invisibly repaired and not affecting text. Overall a very good copy. Much of Donne's Paradoxes were first issued in 1633 under the title Juvenilia. "In 1652 the younger Donne [John Donne Jr.] in the course of his exploitation of his father's writings issued an authorised edition of the Juvenilia in which he increased the number of the paradoxes from eleven to twelve and that of the problems from ten to seventeen even the offensive passages in the first problem being now allowed to remain. To these he added two "Characters," "An Essay of Valour," "A Sheaf of Miscellany Epigrams," a reprint of Ignatius his Conclave and finally the Essays in Divinity. The Epigrams purport to have been written by Donne in Latin and to have been translated into English by Jasper Mayne, D.D. They may have been printed by the younger Donne in good faith, as it seems to be certain that Donne's epigrammata mea Latina once existed; but the epigrams attributed to him in this volume are certainly spurious and may well have been composed as well as translated by Jasper Mayne, who was an unprincipled though witty divine. The Essays in Divinity had been printed in 1651 for a different publisher but as is explained elsewhere, they rarely, if ever, occur as a separate volume. Beyond the facts that the volumes usually occur bound up together. there is nothing in the bibliographical constitution of the whole to shew that they actually form one volume." (Keynes, pg 50-51). ESTC R1266. Keynes 46. HBS 69485. $3,500.