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1828 'Printed for the Publisher' [Wesley and the Methodist Episcopal Church] (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), 2 5/8 x 4 1/4 inches tall brown leather hardcover, gilt ruling and gilt-lettered red leather label to spine, vi, 208 pp. Slight soiling, and moderate to heavy rubbing and edgewear to covers, with spine caps lacking and cracking to both front and rear hinges, which appear to have been glued at some point and hold firm. Moderate bumping to tips. Slight staining to fore page edges, and slight, mostly marginal, staining to a handful of pages. Marginal pencil tick marks to a number of pages, easily erased. Otherwise, a very good copy of this rare early nineteenth century American Methodist issue. This edition not in Baker, Union catalogue, 2nd ed. (1991) 26, OCLC or CoPac. The only 1828 issue listed was from a New York publisher. ~SSS~ [1.0P] A rare 1828 Philadelphia issue of John Wesley's 'extracts' from the fifteenth century devotional classic The Imitation of Christ. Anglican cleric and theologian John Wesley (1703-1791), who, with his brother Charles and fellow cleric George Whitefield, founded Methodism, made a full translation of The Imitation from Latin to English in 1735 as one of his first published works. After the birth of the Methodist movement in 1738-39, Wesley produced this greatly abridged version, entitled 'An Extract of the Christian's Pattern,' first printed in 1741 and reprinted dozens of times thereafter in mostly tiny, pocket-sized editions like this, most of which did not survive heavy devotional use by adherents and are therefore rare today in the market. Wesley produced four different editions of Kempis?s work and considered it indispensable in achieving true religion of the heart. The Imitation of Christ was written (or at a minimum, transcribed) by Catholic monk Thomas a Kempis (circa 1380-1471), 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. Seller Inventory # KMP-0612-12083
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