Author: BUNYAN (John):
Title: The Holy War, made by Shaddai upon Diabolus; For the Regaining of the Metropolis of the World; or the Losing And taking again of the Town of Mansoul.
Description: London: Printed for W. Johnston..., 1759. Small 12mo, 148 x 78 mms., pp. [vi], 280, woodcut title-page with Bunyan's "Advertisement" on verso before title-page, woodcut illustrations on pages 10, 41, 53, 55, 97, 103, and 207 (full-page), "W. Hart/ given me by my Mother," contemporary sheepskin, rebacked, black morocco label; title-page a cancel, B6 slightly detached at inner margin, several margins closely trimmed, with text almost disappearing into inner margin in places, top of spine chipped, but a very good copy, printed on rather cheap paper. The Holy War was first published in 1682 and probably has never been out of print. ODNB notes, "During the First World War, Rudyard Kipling adapted The Holy War to the allied cause in a poem of the same name accompanied by an illustration depicting the British pilgrim attacking the German Diabolus, and letters from British soldiers included many allusions to The Pilgrim's Progress." Bunyan's service in the Newport Pagnell Garrison (c. 1644 - 1647) doubtless provided him with some of the military imagery that is found in The Holy War. This is a re-issue of the text as published by Johnston first in 1752; in this issue, line 23 of text on the verso of signature A2 begins: "What here"; and the ornament at the top of this page includes a face, and the final word of text on this page is not followed by a full stop. there were three further reissues in 1759. ESTC T58586 locates copies of this issue in BL, Bodleian, John Rylands, and York Minster library.

Keywords: allegory fiction literature


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