2023 First Black Letter Press Edition
RELIGIO MEDICI
By Sir Thomas Browne; Paul Summers Young
KEY DETAILS
Condition: Fine
Format: Hardcover, 8vo; Blue Fedrigoni Imitlin, approx. 100 × 160 mm
Published By: Black Letter Press, Obernkirchen, Germany, 2023
Language: English
Signed By: Signed by Author(s)
Provenance: Signed by Paul Summers Young for Books That Expand The Mind, with the signing personally witnessed by the proprietor.
Collation: pp. 210
Dust Jacket: None, as issued, No Jacket
SKU: BTETM0002634
Shipping Info: Approximate Package Dimensions H: 12.5, L: 30, W: 25 (Units: cm), W: 2Kg
Tracked Shipping, Insurance Coverage as per Customer Request
DESCRIPTION
Religio Medici
Transcribed, Edited & Introduced by Paul Summers Young
A signed first Black Letter Press edition of Sir Thomas Browne’s celebrated Religio Medici, one of the most distinctive works of seventeenth-century English prose. This copy is one of only two signed copies of the title supplied to Books That Expand The Mind by Paul Summers Young, with the signing personally witnessed by the proprietor.
This 2023 edition was transcribed, edited and introduced by Paul Summers Young, using Browne’s authorised 1643 text as its basis and introducing modern spelling and punctuation conventions to make the work more accessible while preserving the character of Browne’s prose. Black Letter Press identifies this as the first volume in its series devoted to Browne’s writings.
The present copy is signed in full by Paul Summers Young on the title page and dated “October 2024.” The copy was signed for Books That Expand The Mind, with the signing personally witnessed by the proprietor.
A particularly attractive Black Letter Press production, bound in blue Italian Fedrigoni Imitlin with contrasting endpapers, sewn construction and age-resistant cream paper.
PROVENANCE
Signed by Paul Summers Young for Books That Expand The Mind, with the signing personally witnessed by the proprietor.
This copy is one of only two signed copies of Religio Medici supplied to Books That Expand The Mind by Paul Summers Young.
Paul Summers Young’s signed books were not issued as a general signed state of the Black Letter Press edition; signed copies have instead been supplied separately in very small numbers through his association with specialist booksellers.
The present copy is signed prominently on the title page and dated October 2024.
No claim is made that only two signed copies exist worldwide; the stated limitation relates specifically to the two copies signed for Books That Expand The Mind.
CONDITION, COLLATION & COPY NOTES
Binding: Sewn book block; 120 gsm endpapers; printed on 115 gsm wood-free, age-resistant Arena Ivory Rough paper
An exceptionally well-preserved copy presenting as new.
The blue Fedrigoni Imitlin binding remains clean, bright and sharp, with no significant wear apparent. Corners and extremities are crisp and the binding firm.
Internally fresh and clean, printed on high-quality wood-free, age-resistant paper.
The title page is signed in full by Paul Summers Young and dated “October 2024.”
A particularly attractive signed example of the first Black Letter Press edition.
Please see Photos as part of condition report.
REFERENCES
Wing B5169 — Browne, A true and full coppy … Religio medici, London, 1643.
ESTC R20850 — authorised 1643 edition.
Keynes 3 — Geoffrey Keynes, A Bibliography of Sir Thomas Browne.
CELM BrT 5–14 — manuscript and early textual tradition of Religio Medici.
Black Letter Press — Thomas Browne: Religio Medici, 2023.
The authorised 1643 edition was printed for Andrew Crooke and bore the extended title A true and full coppy of that which was most imperfectly and surreptitiously printed before under the name of Religio medici. The Folger records it as Wing B5169, ESTC R20850 and Keynes 3.
SYNOPSIS
Religio Medici is one of the most remarkable works of personal prose to emerge from seventeenth-century England.
Its title means “The Religion of a Physician,” yet the work is neither a conventional theological treatise nor straightforward autobiography. Instead Browne moves freely through questions of faith, reason, science, medicine, mortality, charity, religious division and the limits of human knowledge.
Writing as both physician and Christian, Browne refuses the assumption that rational investigation and religious belief must necessarily conflict. His intellectual world accommodates scientific curiosity, mystery, scepticism and faith simultaneously.
The work was written during an era of increasingly bitter religious division. Browne’s insistence upon charity towards those with whom he disagreed was consequently striking. He reflects upon differences between Christian denominations, heresy, superstition and religious conviction without embracing the sectarian vehemence that characterised much contemporary polemic.
At the same time, Religio Medici is profoundly concerned with death and the human condition. Browne repeatedly moves from the immense—God, eternity, the cosmos and the soul—to the intimate realities of individual mortality.
Its history of publication is itself remarkable. Browne wrote the work several years before publication and allowed manuscript copies to circulate privately. One of these descended through successive copying until, in Browne’s words, it reached the press in a substantially corrupted form. Two unauthorised editions appeared in 1642. Browne therefore prepared the corrected and authorised 1643 edition, describing it as the “true and full” copy of the work.
The book attracted immediate attention. Sir Kenelm Digby rapidly composed his Observations upon Religio Medici, dated December 1642 and published in 1643, responding to the unauthorised text even before Browne’s corrected edition had fully appeared.
That controversy helped establish a work which has remained in print, studied and admired ever since.
This Black Letter Press edition returns to the authorised 1643 text, presenting Browne’s extraordinary meditation in an accessible modernised form while preserving the substance and distinctive qualities of the original.
An attractive edition for collectors and readers interested in Sir Thomas Browne, seventeenth-century literature, philosophy, theology, medicine, mysticism, religious history and the intellectual culture of Early Modern England.
AUTHOR BIO
Sir Thomas Browne (1605–1682) was an English physician, author, scholar and antiquary whose works combine medicine, natural philosophy, theology, classical learning and an intensely individual literary imagination.
Educated at Oxford and subsequently trained in medicine on the Continent, Browne eventually established a successful medical practice at Norwich. His extraordinarily wide intellectual interests ranged across anatomy, botany, antiquity, natural history, language, religion and what would now be described as the history of ideas.
Browne composed Religio Medici—literally “The Religion of a Physician”—primarily for private reflection rather than publication. Manuscript copies circulated among friends and acquaintances before an imperfect and unauthorised version reached the press in 1642. Two unauthorised 1642 editions are recorded. Browne responded by preparing his own corrected version, published for Andrew Crooke in 1643.
Browne later became equally celebrated for Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646), his examination of commonly accepted errors, and the companion works Hydriotaphia, Urne-Buriall and The Garden of Cyrus (1658). He was knighted by Charles II in 1671.
His elaborate, rhythmic and deeply learned prose has ensured his continuing influence on generations of English writers.
Transcribed, Edited & Introduced By: Paul Summers Young
Editor Bio
Paul Summers Young is a translator, editor and writer specialising in historical magical, philosophical, literary and esoteric texts.
His work with Black Letter Press includes the four-volume edition of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa’s De Occulta Philosophia, Giambattista della Porta’s Natural Magick, Johann Weyer’s Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, The Black Pullet, The Red Dragon, Ars Goetia, Reginald Scot’s Discoverie of Witchcraft and other significant texts within the Western intellectual and magical traditions.
For this edition of Religio Medici, Young transcribed and edited Browne’s text from the authorised 1643 edition, applying modern spelling and punctuation conventions while seeking to retain the distinctive voice and cadence of Browne’s original prose. Black Letter Press describes the volume as the first in its series devoted to Browne.
2023 First Black Letter Press Edition
RELIGIO MEDICI
By Sir Thomas Browne; Paul Summers Young
KEY DETAILS
Condition: Fine
Format: Hardcover, 8vo; Blue Fedrigoni Imitlin, approx. 100 × 160 mm
Published By: Black Letter Press, Obernkirchen, Germany, 2023
Language: English
Signed By: Signed by Author(s)
Provenance: Signed by Paul Summers Young for Books That Expand The Mind, with the signing personally witnessed by the proprietor.
Collation: pp. 210
Dust Jacket: None, as issued, No Jacket
SKU: BTETM0002634
Shipping Info: Approximate Package Dimensions H: 12.5, L: 30, W: 25 (Units: cm), W: 2Kg
Tracked Shipping, Insurance Coverage as per Customer Request
DESCRIPTION
Religio Medici
Transcribed, Edited & Introduced by Paul Summers Young
A signed first Black Letter Press edition of Sir Thomas Browne’s celebrated Religio Medici, one of the most distinctive works of seventeenth-century English prose. This copy is one of only two signed copies of the title supplied to Books That Expand The Mind by Paul Summers Young, with the signing personally witnessed by the proprietor.
This 2023 edition was transcribed, edited and introduced by Paul Summers Young, using Browne’s authorised 1643 text as its basis and introducing modern spelling and punctuation conventions to make the work more accessible while preserving the character of Browne’s prose. Black Letter Press identifies this as the first volume in its series devoted to Browne’s writings.
The present copy is signed in full by Paul Summers Young on the title page and dated “October 2024.” The copy was signed for Books That Expand The Mind, with the signing personally witnessed by the proprietor.
A particularly attractive Black Letter Press production, bound in blue Italian Fedrigoni Imitlin with contrasting endpapers, sewn construction and age-resistant cream paper.
PROVENANCE
Signed by Paul Summers Young for Books That Expand The Mind, with the signing personally witnessed by the proprietor.
This copy is one of only two signed copies of Religio Medici supplied to Books That Expand The Mind by Paul Summers Young.
Paul Summers Young’s signed books were not issued as a general signed state of the Black Letter Press edition; signed copies have instead been supplied separately in very small numbers through his association with specialist booksellers.
The present copy is signed prominently on the title page and dated October 2024.
No claim is made that only two signed copies exist worldwide; the stated limitation relates specifically to the two copies signed for Books That Expand The Mind.
CONDITION, COLLATION & COPY NOTES
Binding: Sewn book block; 120 gsm endpapers; printed on 115 gsm wood-free, age-resistant Arena Ivory Rough paper
An exceptionally well-preserved copy presenting as new.
The blue Fedrigoni Imitlin binding remains clean, bright and sharp, with no significant wear apparent. Corners and extremities are crisp and the binding firm.
Internally fresh and clean, printed on high-quality wood-free, age-resistant paper.
The title page is signed in full by Paul Summers Young and dated “October 2024.”
A particularly attractive signed example of the first Black Letter Press edition.
Please see Photos as part of condition report.
REFERENCES
Wing B5169 — Browne, A true and full coppy … Religio medici, London, 1643.
ESTC R20850 — authorised 1643 edition.
Keynes 3 — Geoffrey Keynes, A Bibliography of Sir Thomas Browne.
CELM BrT 5–14 — manuscript and early textual tradition of Religio Medici.
Black Letter Press — Thomas Browne: Religio Medici, 2023.
The authorised 1643 edition was printed for Andrew Crooke and bore the extended title A true and full coppy of that which was most imperfectly and surreptitiously printed before under the name of Religio medici. The Folger records it as Wing B5169, ESTC R20850 and Keynes 3.
SYNOPSIS
Religio Medici is one of the most remarkable works of personal prose to emerge from seventeenth-century England.
Its title means “The Religion of a Physician,” yet the work is neither a conventional theological treatise nor straightforward autobiography. Instead Browne moves freely through questions of faith, reason, science, medicine, mortality, charity, religious division and the limits of human knowledge.
Writing as both physician and Christian, Browne refuses the assumption that rational investigation and religious belief must necessarily conflict. His intellectual world accommodates scientific curiosity, mystery, scepticism and faith simultaneously.
The work was written during an era of increasingly bitter religious division. Browne’s insistence upon charity towards those with whom he disagreed was consequently striking. He reflects upon differences between Christian denominations, heresy, superstition and religious conviction without embracing the sectarian vehemence that characterised much contemporary polemic.
At the same time, Religio Medici is profoundly concerned with death and the human condition. Browne repeatedly moves from the immense—God, eternity, the cosmos and the soul—to the intimate realities of individual mortality.
Its history of publication is itself remarkable. Browne wrote the work several years before publication and allowed manuscript copies to circulate privately. One of these descended through successive copying until, in Browne’s words, it reached the press in a substantially corrupted form. Two unauthorised editions appeared in 1642. Browne therefore prepared the corrected and authorised 1643 edition, describing it as the “true and full” copy of the work.
The book attracted immediate attention. Sir Kenelm Digby rapidly composed his Observations upon Religio Medici, dated December 1642 and published in 1643, responding to the unauthorised text even before Browne’s corrected edition had fully appeared.
That controversy helped establish a work which has remained in print, studied and admired ever since.
This Black Letter Press edition returns to the authorised 1643 text, presenting Browne’s extraordinary meditation in an accessible modernised form while preserving the substance and distinctive qualities of the original.
An attractive edition for collectors and readers interested in Sir Thomas Browne, seventeenth-century literature, philosophy, theology, medicine, mysticism, religious history and the intellectual culture of Early Modern England.
AUTHOR BIO
Sir Thomas Browne (1605–1682) was an English physician, author, scholar and antiquary whose works combine medicine, natural philosophy, theology, classical learning and an intensely individual literary imagination.
Educated at Oxford and subsequently trained in medicine on the Continent, Browne eventually established a successful medical practice at Norwich. His extraordinarily wide intellectual interests ranged across anatomy, botany, antiquity, natural history, language, religion and what would now be described as the history of ideas.
Browne composed Religio Medici—literally “The Religion of a Physician”—primarily for private reflection rather than publication. Manuscript copies circulated among friends and acquaintances before an imperfect and unauthorised version reached the press in 1642. Two unauthorised 1642 editions are recorded. Browne responded by preparing his own corrected version, published for Andrew Crooke in 1643.
Browne later became equally celebrated for Pseudodoxia Epidemica (1646), his examination of commonly accepted errors, and the companion works Hydriotaphia, Urne-Buriall and The Garden of Cyrus (1658). He was knighted by Charles II in 1671.
His elaborate, rhythmic and deeply learned prose has ensured his continuing influence on generations of English writers.
Transcribed, Edited & Introduced By: Paul Summers Young
Editor Bio
Paul Summers Young is a translator, editor and writer specialising in historical magical, philosophical, literary and esoteric texts.
His work with Black Letter Press includes the four-volume edition of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa’s De Occulta Philosophia, Giambattista della Porta’s Natural Magick, Johann Weyer’s Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, The Black Pullet, The Red Dragon, Ars Goetia, Reginald Scot’s Discoverie of Witchcraft and other significant texts within the Western intellectual and magical traditions.
For this edition of Religio Medici, Young transcribed and edited Browne’s text from the authorised 1643 edition, applying modern spelling and punctuation conventions while seeking to retain the distinctive voice and cadence of Browne’s original prose. Black Letter Press describes the volume as the first in its series devoted to Browne.
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