The Pilgrim's Progress from this world to that which is to come. [bound with] The Second Part [and] The Third Part.. This item is unavailable.The Pilgrim's Progress from this world to that which is to come. [bound with] The Second Part [and] The Third Part.

Three parts in 1 vol.; twenty-ninth, twenty-third and eighteenth edition respectively; 12mo (15.5 x 9.5 cm); 22 full-page in-text illustrations including frontispieces to each title, further woodcut vignettes, woodcut borders to titles, previous ownership inscription in pen to title and frontispiece verso, 5pp ads to rear, slightly toned; modern calf, later endpapers, contrasting red morocco lettering-piece to spine; [10], 205, [1]; [12], 179, [1]; [6], iv, 119, [3], 30, [2], [6 ads]pp. An early, well-illustrated edition of this indisputable classic, often considered the first English novel. Bunyan (d.1688) began writing The Pilgrim's Progress during his lengthy imprisonment in Bedford Gaol following his arrest in 1661 under the auspices of legislation designed to stamp-out nonconformist religion. The work was not published until February 1678, when it was released to incredible popular acclaim, with over 10,000 copies sold in the first year, including 4000 from a pirated edition. By 1680 the text had been translated into 147 languages, and has not been out of print since. 'The early demand for the book was not from the learned, but from the pious and young. It was at first fashionable to sneer at Bunyan as a writer, but the approval of such as Swift, Johnson and Walpole marked a change. Now it is universally known and loved, and the parable of salvation is accepted by all denominations' (PMM). ESTC T58906 & T58939.…