Books

London: Printed by M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, and are to be sold at his shop in St Dunstans Church-yard in Fleet-street, 1639. THIRD EDITION. (first ed. 1633). Hardcover. Fine. A very desirable copy, bound in its original binding of polished calf, ruled in blind, with only minor wear and abrasions. The text is in very fine condition and is complete with the portrait of Donne -now rarely encountered- by William Marshall, apparently after a lost miniature by Hillyard, showing Donne as a rakish young man of eighteen, with long hair and an earring in his right ear. Beneath the portrait is a poem by Izaak Walton. Provenance: Richard Jennings (Sotheby's London, 28 April 1952, lot 162) - Allerton C. Hickmott, acquired by Seven Gables, 1962. "The poetry of Donne represents a sharp break with that written by his predecessors and most of his contemporaries. Much Elizabethan verse is decorative and flowery in its quality. Its images adorn; its meter is mellifluous. Image harmonizes…

The influential collection of John Donne's poems, first published posthumously, includes a wide range of Donne's work, expressing his unique style and key themes.