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1816 'Printed by Leonard Kellogg' (Manlius, New York), 4 1/4 x 7 inches tall brown hardbound, leather covered boards, gilt ruling and gilt-lettered leather label to spine, 231 pp. Slight staining and moderate to heavy rubbing and edgewear to covers, with a bit of bumping to the tips. Moderate age toning and chipping to the fore edges of the blank front free-endpapers, with a nineteenth century prior owner name stamp and a couple of other prior owner names in pencil (easily erased) to the first blank front free-endpaper. Moderate sporadic foxing to pages throughout the volume, typical of this early American vintage printing. Otherwise, a very good copy of this uncommon issue of the Payne translation from Manlius, New York (just east of Syracuse) pioneer publisher / printer Leonard Kellogg (1781-1817). References: Shaw & Shoemaker, Early American Imprints 37913; Copinger, On the English Translations of the Imitatio Christi (1900), pp. 84-87; OCLC 27979976, 14247790. ~KMP~ An uncommon early American issue of one of Christendom's most beloved devotional works, The Imitation of Christ, first printed in late medieval times in Latin. The John Payne English translation, which first appeared in 1763, is a Protestant translation which omits the fourth book of the original, dealing with the (Catholic) Mass. Payne says in his introduction he wishes to do 'some Justice to the sense of the Original; which is almost lost in the loose paraphrase of Dean Stanhope [then the best-selling English version], and almost deprived of its spirit by the literal and inelegant exactness of others.' The Imitation was written by Catholic monk Thomas 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. There is probably no other book apart from the Bible which has been printed in so many editions and translations. Leonard Kellogg was a printer/publisher, and served as the editor of the Manlius (New York) Times, from 1809-1817. Seller Inventory # KMP-0612-12082
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