[Donne, John]

4to (8 3/8 x 6 1/4 in.; 214 x 160 mm). Decorative woodcut initials and head- and tailpieces, a contemporary manuscript index to the work (4 pages on a bifolium) has been pinned to the errata page ¶2v. Contemporary vellum, modestly gilt; lightly soiled, fore-edges worn with loss, shaken. Red morocco folding-case.

Thomas Egerton, Baron Ellesmere and 1st Viscount Brackley — John Egerton, 1st Earl of Bridgewater — John Egerton, 2nd Earl of Bridgewater — thence by descent ("The Remaining Portion of the Bridgewater Library," Sotheby’s London, 19 March 1951, lot 109) — Allerton C. Hickmott, Hartford, Connecticut. acquisition: Seven Gables, 1963

STC 7048; ESTC S109984;  Grolier/Donne 1, 34 (this copy); Grolier/Wither to Prior 276; Keynes, Donne 1; Pforzheimer 298

4to (8 3/8 x 6 1/4 in.; 214 x 160 mm). Decorative woodcut initials and head- and tailpieces, a contemporary manuscript index to the work (4 pages on a bifolium) has been pinned to the errata page ¶2v Contemporary vellum, modestly gilt; lightly soiled, fore-edges worn with loss, shaken. Red morocco folding-case.
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One of only two surviving presentation copies of Donne’s first published work, with his signed autograph letter of transmittal to Lord Chancellor Ellesmere. The present copy was given by Donne to Thomas Egerton, for whom he had acted as secretary when the latter was Solicitor General and Master of the Rolls under Elizabeth I. At the time of the publication of Pseudo-Martyr, Egerton was serving James I as Lord Keeper and Lord Chancellor. (The other unquestionable surviving presentation copy of Pseudo-Martyr was sent to Rowland Woodward; it had been in the collection of John Sparrow and its present location is unknown.)

Pinned to a binder's blank at the end of the volume is Donne’s original letter of presentation: "All Ryuers, though in there Course they are content to serve publique uses, yet there end ys, to returne into the Sea, from whence they issued. So, though I should have much Comfort, that thys Booke might give contentment to others, yet my Direct end in ytt was, to make yt a testimony of my gratitude towards yor Lp. and an acknowledgement, that those poor sparks of Understandinge or Judgement wch are in mee, were derived and kindled from you and owe themselves to you. All that ys in ytt, yor Lp may be pleasd to accept as yors; and for the Errors, I cannot despair of your Pardon, since you have longe since pardond greater faults in mee." The letter concludes with a bold and unusually large signature, "J. Donne." (1 page [11 3/8 x 7 5/8 in.; 289 x 194 mm] on a bifolium, addressed on the verso of the integral leaf to "The right honor: | The L: Ellesmere | The L: Chancellor of | England.")

Donne’s reference to his "greater faults" is an allusion to the embarrassment he had caused his patron a decade earlier. While a member of the Egerton household, Donne made the acquaintance of Ann More, the niece of Egerton’s wife, Elizabeth Wooley. As Augustus Jessopp described the situation, "when Lady Egerton died, in January 1599–1600, and the supervision of the domestic arrangements in the lord keeper’s house was perhaps less vigilant than it had been, the intimacy between the two developed into a passionate attachment which neither had the resolution to resist, and it ended by the pair being secretly married about Christmas 1600, Donne being then twenty-seven and his bride sixteen years of age. The secret could not long be kept" (DNB). Donne’s father-in-law had him imprisoned, and while he was soon released—and eventually reconciled with his wife’s family—Thomas Egerton declined to reinstate him.

Pseudo-Martyr entered the Bridgewater Library, the family library founded by Thomas Egerton, which is generally conceded to be the oldest significant family collection in England to survive intact into modern times. The volume was retained by the family even when the bulk of the library was sold, through the offices of Sotheby’s, in 1917 to Henry Huntington. The Bridgewater Library now forms the core of the Elizabethan and early Stuart collection at the Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Pseudo-Martyr is not a work of theological controversy, for it deals only with the question of the King’s supremacy in order to show, as the title-page states, "That those which are of the Romane Religion in this Kingdome, may and ought to take the Oath of Allegeance." The "pseudo-martyrs" are the Catholic recusants who have brought punishments upon themselves by their refusal to recognize their lawful sovereign” (Keynes).