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

Full title: 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.

12mo. ff. 4, pp. 219 (pp. 65, 68 misnumbered 56, 86), ff. 2, pp. 224 (p. 115 misnumbered 815). Signatures: A⁸ B-K¹² L⁴ (L₃₄, blank, wanting) [A₁₋₂, ₄] B-K¹² L⁴ ([A₁] (blank, wanting); [A₃] canceled). Contemporary blind-stamped calf. Gilt spine decoration and spine label. First edition so constituted, collating A8 B–K12 L4 (L3-4 blank and present); 2A1 (title of ‘Essayes in Divinity’), π1 (‘To the Reader,’ often canceled, from G. Keynes, A Bibliography of Dr John Donne, by Geoffrey Keynes. Oxford, 1973, no. 50), B-K8 L4. Leaf F5 in part one, the subtitle to Ignatius his Conclave, is a cancel, dated ‘1653’, and the general title is probably the second of two variants (Keynes, no. 45 and 46), with ‘Problemes’ so spelt, and the lineation altered; two shorter leaves from the 1631 edition of Ignatius (headed ‘The Printer to the Reader’ and signed A2-3) inserted between F5 and F6. Bookplate Fox Pointe Collection, Library of Dr. & Mrs. H.R. Knohl inside back cover. Dedication signed: “Jo. Donne From my house in Cov. Gar. March 2. 1652.” “Ignatius his conclave: or, His inthronisation in a late election in hell [...], Printed at London, 1653,” pages [105]-219, 1st group of paging, and “Essayes in divinity [...], London, Printed by T.M. for Richard Marriot [...] 1651,” 1 l., [2], 244 pages at end, each have special title page.

First edition, second issue of a composite volume, as issued by Moseley in March 1653 or slightly later, comprising, inter alia, sheets of (1) an expanded edition of the ‘Juvenilia’ (i.e. Paradoxes and Problems, 1631); (2) a reprint of Ignatius his Conclave (1611ff.); and (3) other uncollected material, notably the spurious ‘Sheaf of miscellany epigrams,’ Englished from Donne’s supposedly lost Latin originals by Jasper Mayne, but now generally regarded as crudely imitative forgeries. See Keynes, no. 46 (in need of correction); D. Wing (ed.), Short-title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and British America, and of English Books Printed in Other Countries, 1641–1700. 4 vols. New York, 1982-98 (2nd ed.), D1867.

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