Item #68856 Vision of Pierce Plowman. William LANGLAND.
Vision of Pierce Plowman
Vision of Pierce Plowman

An Early Edition of One of the Most Important Works of Early English Literature

Vision of Pierce Plowman. Newlye imprynted after the authours olde copy, with a brefe summary of the principall matters set before euery part called passus. Wherevnto is also annexed the Crede of Pierce Plowman, neuer imprinted with the booke before.

London: Owen Rogers, 1561.

Full Description:

LANGLAND, William. The Vision of Pierce Plowman. Newlye imprynted after the authours olde copy, with a brefe summary of the principall matters set before euery part called passus. Wherevnto is also annexed the Crede of Pierce Plowman, neuer imprinted with the booke before. London: Owen Rogers, 1561.

Fourth edition. Quarto (7 3/8 x 5 1/8 inches; 185 x 130 mm). 127 leaves. Bound without the 'Crede' as usual. Text in black letter. Woodcut engraved initials throughout, and tailpiece on title-page.

19th-century full calf. Boards double ruled and tooled in blind. Spine with tan calf label, lettered in gilt. All edges speckled red. Some minor rubbing to boards and edges. A bit of toning throughout. But still a very good copy of this scarce title.

All early editions are rare with Pforzheimer listing only this and the second edition of 1550. The 'Crede' (absent from most copies, including ours) is particularly scarce. "Its rarity, about half a dozen copies have survived, is probably due to contemporary proscription because of its Wyclifite doctrine ... Except as linked in the title, the Crede has no connection with the Vision". (Pforzheimer, p.823)

This poem was an effective transition from the medieval to the modern mind. Also, it contains the first mention of Robin Hood. Aside from Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales', this work is regarded as the most important of early English literature.

"The poem is a sequence of 22 dream visions, called ‘passus’, which means ‘step’ in Latin. In these visions, the narrator, Will, meets a series of allegorical characters. The poem is an exploration of Christian faith, as the narrator strives to uncover how to live a good Christian life. It is a highly learned work, filled with quotations from the Bible and from patristic writers (the so-called ‘Fathers of the Church’, i.e. early Christian writers)." (British Library).

ESTC S114908. Pforzheimer 799.

HBS 68856.

$22,500.

Price: $22,500.00

Item #68856

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