THE DOCTRINE OF THE LAW AND GRACE UNFOLDED AND I WILL PRAY WITH THE SPIRIT

First edition, first printing. Original dark blue cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, publisher's monogram in blind to the front panel, in dustwrapper. A very near fine copy, the binding square and firm, the cloth and gilt fresh, the contents clean throughout. In the dustwrapper, the spine a little toned, nicked to the upper spine tip and corners, with a short tear (c. 0.5 cm) to the upper edge of the rear spine fold. Not price clipped (£12.50 net to the front flap). An attractive copy. Scarce.

This was the first volume to be published (but second in the series) in the Clarendon 'Miscellaneous Works of John Bunyan' issued across thirteen volumes between 1976 and 1994. As the series editor, Roger Sharrock, writes in the preface, "[t]he purpose of th[e] edition is to present all that Bunyan wrote [excluding the more accessible 'Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners', 'The Pilgrim's Progress', 'The Life and Death of Mr. Badman', and 'The Holy War'] in a text based on the earliest available editions, but incorporating those additions and revisions in later editions published during the author's lifetime which may reasonably be judged to have been made by Bunyan or to have received his approval." This first volume includes the most important of Bunyan's theological treatises, 'The Doctrine of the Law and Grace Unfolded', and the later, shorter, 'I Will Pray with the Spirit', written during the early years of the author's imprisonment for unauthorised preaching following the Stuart Restoration in 1660.