The Dream of Gerontius, first publication complete in the May and June numbers of the Jesuit periodical "The Month, an Illustrated Magazine of Literature, Science and Art," here bound in Vol. II of that magazine, January to June 1865
By Newman, John Henry
This true first publication of Father (later Cardinal) Newman's best-known work precedes the 1866 London hardcover first edition by a year. This volume in original dark green pebbled cloth half-bound in black leather, considerably rubbed to corners, binding the issues of the Jesuit periodical "The Month" from January to June 1865 inclusive without individual wrappers. Internal hinges are partly open but the sewn hardcover volume is still tightly bound; will close its own text block and rear board. Three tasteful former ownership stamps to preliminary pages of the Franciscan Convent Library, Waterford. Book smells slightly old & musty, but not objectionably so. The poem, written after Newman's conversion from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism, explores his new Catholic faith in the form of the prayer of a dying man, with angelic and demonic responses, concerning death, Paradise, God and Purgatory. "The Dream of Gerontius" is said to owe much of its imagery to the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri. This bound volume of the magazine also contains "Constance Sherwood: An Autobiography of the Sixteenth Century," by Lady Georgiana Fullerton, "The Lays of Darrynane," by Irish poet Ellen Fitzsimon, etc. (A tissue guard is laid in but not attached over the impressive engraved illustration at the beginning of "The Lays of Darrynane" -- signed Linton and possibly by Henry Duff Linton. Scan of this plate, which is reminiscent of William Blake, available on request.) 578 pp.
Published by: Simpkin, Marshall & Co., London, 1865
Vendor: Cat's Curiosities
Buy Now on
By Newman, John Henry
This true first publication of Father (later Cardinal) Newman's best-known work precedes the 1866 London hardcover first edition by a year. This volume in original dark green pebbled cloth half-bound in black leather, considerably rubbed to corners, binding the issues of the Jesuit periodical "The Month" from January to June 1865 inclusive without individual wrappers. Internal hinges are partly open but the sewn hardcover volume is still tightly bound; will close its own text block and rear board. Three tasteful former ownership stamps to preliminary pages of the Franciscan Convent Library, Waterford. Book smells slightly old & musty, but not objectionably so. The poem, written after Newman's conversion from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism, explores his new Catholic faith in the form of the prayer of a dying man, with angelic and demonic responses, concerning death, Paradise, God and Purgatory. "The Dream of Gerontius" is said to owe much of its imagery to the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri. This bound volume of the magazine also contains "Constance Sherwood: An Autobiography of the Sixteenth Century," by Lady Georgiana Fullerton, "The Lays of Darrynane," by Irish poet Ellen Fitzsimon, etc. (A tissue guard is laid in but not attached over the impressive engraved illustration at the beginning of "The Lays of Darrynane" -- signed Linton and possibly by Henry Duff Linton. Scan of this plate, which is reminiscent of William Blake, available on request.) 578 pp.
Published by: Simpkin, Marshall & Co., London, 1865
Vendor: Cat's Curiosities
