The Golden Legend by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth - 1851

Boston: Ticknor, Reed and Fields, 1851 First edition, first issue. One of 3,600 copies. Original publisher's cloth stamped in blind, spine lettered in gilt. Housed in a quarter-leather slipcase with folding chemise. An excellent copy, with some mild signs of rubbing and a touch of wear to the spine ends, lower corners slightly frayed, early former owner's signature to blank preceding title page. Overall, a near fine copy. Very scarce in this condition. The Golden Legend is a poem that makes up the second part of Longfellow's Christus: A Mystery, the story of the history of Christianity told in three parts. He completed The Golden Legend, which covers Christianity during the Middle Ages, first. The New England Tragedies, concerned with Puritan Christianity in United States, comprised the third part and was first published in 1868. Finally, he published the first part of Christus, The Divine Tragedy, which tells the story of the life of Jesus Christ, in 1871. The completed work included "Finale: St. John" in its 1872 first edition. Although it was not his most commercially successful title, Longfellow considered Christus to be his magnum opus.. First Edition.. Hard Cover. Near Fine.