The Following of Christ: In Four Books: A New Translation by Thomas a Kempis - 1851-01-01

Burns and Lambert, 1851-01-01. Leather Bound. Good. 1851 Burns and Lambert (London), 4 3/8 x 6 3/8 inches tall embossed leather bound, five raised bands and gilt lettering to spine, all page edges gilt, gilt dentelles framing front and rear pastedowns, illustrated with engraved frontispiece, extra engraved title page and full-page engraving at the beginning of each of the four books, each page of text framed by engraved borders, xii, 368 pp. Moderate rubbing and edgewear to covers. Bumping to lower tips. Engraved prayer card tipped onto front pastedown. Prior owner gift inscriptions to blank front free-endpaper. A couple of pages with slight to moderate marginal soiling. Creasing to a few lower page tips. Otherwise, a very good copy - clean, bright and unmarked - of this uncommon mid-nineteenth century issue of this devotional classic. ~KM5~ [1.5P] The Imitation of Christ was written (or at a minimum, transcribed) by Catholic monk Thomas Kempis, as four separate books completed between 1420 and 1427, at Mount Saint Agnes monastery, in the town of Windesheim, located in what is now the Netherlands. He wrote these works for the instruction of novices of his Augustinian monastic order, followers of Geert Groote's Brethren of the Common Life. But the writings quickly became popular among all the literate faithful. They were copied together in one manuscript as early as 1427, by Kempis, and copied (and later printed) together fairly consistently thereafter. Soon after hand-copied versions of the Imitatio Christi initially appeared, the printing press was invented, and it was among the first books after the Bible to be printed. There is probably no other book other than the Bible which has been printed in so many editions and translations. In the past six hundred years, the work has been translated from Kempis' medieval Latin into nearly every language in the world. The publisher, Burns and Lambert, was one of the most respected British Catholic publishers in modern history. Founded in 1835 by James Burns, in 1847 Burns' business was put in jeopardy when he converted to Catholicism, but he was fortunate to receive the support of John Henry Newman, who chose the firm to publish many of his works. In 1866 the firm was joined by a younger man, William Wilfred Oates, making the company Burns, Lambert & Oates and later Burns & Oates. The company was designated Publishers to the Holy See by Pope Leo XIII.