Biathanatos (one of the earliest Western works on suicide)

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First edition, first issue, with the "Authors cited in this booke leaves and undated title page. Contemporary full calf with the initial blank (generally found missing), an old well-done rebacking, hinges heavily rubbed, title page browned, the other pages browned primarily at the margins. All in all a Very Good and more importantly complete copy. University of Cambridge bookplate on title page verso. ** Donne s complex work on suicide written during troubled times that he never wanted published a desire unheeded by his son after his death. ** 'Biathanatos was written during a lengthy period of unemployment, during which Donne suffered from low spirits. In 1608, around the time that Biathanatos was originally composed, Donne wrote to his friend Henry Goodyer, "Every Tuesday I make account that I turn a great hourglass, and consider that a week s life is run out since I writ. But if I ask myself what I have done in the last watch, or would do in the next, I can say nothing." Although John Sym s Lifes Preservative Against Self-Killing (London, 1637) was published earlier, Biathanatos was the first book written in the Western tradition on the subject of suicide.' (Cardiff)***Please email us for better pricing. Seller Inventory # ABE-19164940851

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