Donne, John
Rare books by John Donne, including first editions and copies in fine bindings.
John Donne (1572–1631) was a metaphysical poet and Anglican clergyman. As a young man he studied at Oxford and was admitted to Lincoln’s Inn. Poetry was a fashionable pastime for young men of his social standing, and Donne became adept, writing a series of poems that were not intended for publication, but circulated among friends. The Elegies were sexual and highly symbolic sonnets addressed to mistresses, while the Satires explored the politics and hypocrisy of life in the courts. Though a few of these appeared in printed miscellanies in the 1620s, the majority were not published until after their author’s death, when the number of variant and wrongly attributed poems circulating in manuscript presented difficulties for editors. The first printed collection, Poems, appeared in 1633, and is considered the best of the early publications. A second edition was published in 1635, but included many verbal alterations and spurious poems. Two notable editions appeared during the seventeenth century. That of 1633 is considered the best text, while the 1669 edition is more complete but includes more errors. Donne’s fame diminished during the seventeenth century, but was revived by the Romantic Movement during the nineteenth, leading to the publication of a number of significant scholarly editions, most notably the Clarendon Press edition of 1912. In the second half of his life Donne became a Church of England clergyman and eventually the Dean of St. Paul’s. His sermons were highly regarded and many were published during his lifetime, but today he is best remembered for the erotically and philosophically charged poetry of his youth.
DONNE, John.
Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Authors Death. 1633
£29,500
First edition of the principal collection of Donne's poetical works, issued two years after his death, together with his Juvenilia. This copy has the two inserted leaves with "The...
2 works bound in one, quarto (186 × 137 mm). Contemporary calf, skilfully rebacked and relined to style, covers with three-line blind rules, edges speckled red.... Read more
DONNE, John.
Poems, By J. D. With elegies on the authors death. 1635
£9,500
Second edition, with the addition of 17 original poems by Donne not included in the first edition of 1633.
Small octavo (136 × 90 mm). 19th-century calf, red morocco spine label, date in gilt at foot, sides blind-panelled with fleur-de-lys design, bevelled edges,... Read more
