Letters to Severall Persons of Honour.: Published by John Donne Dr. of the Civill Law.

London: Printed by J. Flesher, for Richard Marriot, and are to be sold at his shop,, 1651. His letters saved for posterity First edition, collecting 129 of Donne's letters, gathered and edited by his son two decades after his death, all published here for the first time, save for a few which had appeared in the 1633 Poems and in the 1640 Sermons. "Most of Donne's letters would probably have been lost to posterity were it not for his son's desire to gain fame and make money from his unpublished writings... [The volume of letters represents] one of the first two really significant collections of correspondence by an English literary figure. (The other - Sir Philip Sidney's - has nothing like the width of appeal of Donne's)" (Oliver, p. x). Small quarto (186 x 137 mm). Contemporary sprinkled calf, rebacked to style, tan sheep label, gilt central ornament to covers. With portrait frontispiece by Pierre Lombart (noted by Keynes as "very finely engraved"). 19th-century bookplate of Charles Hoare to front pastedown, possibly the banker who was senior partner of C. Hoare & Co (1767-1851). Bound without initial and terminal blanks. Inner hinges neatly reinforced. Light rubbing, contents crisp with some faint staining at head of gutter, some light worming not affecting text, short closed tear not affecting text to 2N4. A very good copy. ESTC R1211; Keynes 55; Pforzheimer 295; Wing D1864. P. M. Oliver, introduction to John Donne Selected Letters, 2002.