1881 JOHN BUNYAN. Pilgrim's Progress Bound in Oak from His Original 17th Century Church!

This is one of the best editions of Bunyan ever published. Housed in morocco spine and boards edged in morocco surrounding substantial 17th century oak boards with a laid down lithograph of Bunyan and then gold stamped certifying that these boards were removed from the Elstow church during a restoration and then a gold facsimile signature of Bunyan stamped into the oak. Lovely!

These boards heard Bunyan preach! 

Bunyan, John. Elstow Edition. The Pilgrim’s Progress from this World to that which is to Come . . . with Memoir and Bibliographic Notes. Illustrations by W. Gunston and Others. Engraved by R. Paterson. London. John Walker. 1881.

Very attractive with only minor rubbing. Boards bowed, as with nearly every copy I have ever handled. It is 400+ year old oak. Text crisp, solid and clean. Minor tide mark at lower right of text block. First two blanks have the lower right corner excised. An unusually solid copy; often the heavy boards have weakened the hinge. Not so on this example. 

[KI]