DRYDEN, John.
Religio Laici or a Layman’s Faith. A Poem …
London, Printed for Jacob Tonson … 1683.
Small 4to., pp. [16], 28; title-page dusty, faint water stain to the outer margin of the first few gatherings; upper corner of E2 torn away, with the loss of part of the page number; a good copy in modern boards.
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Religio Laici or a Layman’s Faith. A Poem …
First edition, second issue (with a few minor corrections; Macdonald located only two copies of the first): ‘a defence of the Anglican position, which shows his singular power of arguing in verse’ (Leslie Stephen, DNB). The inspiration for the poem was the translation of Richard Simon’s Histoire critique du Vieux Testament published earlier in the year by Dryden’s young friend, Henry Dickinson.
Wing D 2342, Macdonald 16a ii; Pforzheimer 337.
