LXXX SERMONS PREACHED BY JOHN DONNE 1640 FIRST EDITION LEATHER BOUND

[DONNE, John (1572-1631)]. LXXX Sermons Preached by that Learned and Reverend Divine, John Donne, Dr in Divinity, late Deane of the Cathedrall Church of S. Pauls London. London: printed [by Miles Flesher] for Richard Royston, in Ivie-lane, and Richard Marriot in S. Dunstans Church-yard in Fleetstreet, M DC XL. [1640].

First edition. Leather-bound. Hardcover. Folio (350 x 230 x 70 mm.). Pp. [34], 826, [22]. With one initial blank and three terminal blanks present. English text. Handsomely bound in contemporary full calf, spine with six raised bands, red dyed page edges. Portrait frontispiece of the author. Letterpress title-page within double-ruled borders and with woodcut device. Woodcut devices, woodcut initials, head- and tail-pieces throughout. Index to rear in double columns. Condition: GOOD. Binding tight and secure, with mild wear to spine ends and points. Lacking the additional engraved title, but otherwise collates complete. Initial few leaves with some creasing at the edges, the interior largely well-preserved, although leaves Lll and Lll2 have some tears and losses affecting some text, old inking to endleaves.

Notes: First edition of the first folio collection of Donne's sermons - a famous work published posthumously. Some of Donne's more significant sermons were printed at the time of delivery, but this is the first collected edition, issued by Donne's son John; further volumes were published in 1649 and 1661. Editor’s dedication signed: Jo: Donne, i.e. John Donne the younger. With the life of the author by Izaak Walton - this prefatory essay is a first printing in itself. Printer’s name from STC. First leaf and the last three leaves are blank. Imprimatur on C4v: Novemb. 29. 1639. Imprimatur, Tho: Broun. "One hundred and sixty of Donne's sermons survive, and they demand reading and study not just as the major productions of his maturity but also as intricate and beautiful pieces of prose" (ODNB). A scarce and important work. [STC 7038; Grolier/Donne 62; Grolier/ Wither to Prior 293; Keynes, Donne, 29].