DONNE, John (1573-1631). Pseudo-Martyr. London: printed by W. Stansby for Walter Burre, 1610.

Donne's rare first published book. By 1609 Donne had already written most of his poetry, which circulated mostly in manuscript during his lifetime, as well as an earlier controversial prose work, Biathanatos (see lot 36), a treatise on suicide, also published posthumously. Pseudo-Martyr was long thought to have been written by order of James I, and Donne was reputed to have composed the book in six weeks, but Keynes points out, citing Gosse, that a passage in Donne's dedication belies this, and that the Table of Chapters had been in manuscript circulation for a long period before the book was finished. The title refers to the Roman Catholic subjects who suffered punishment for refusing to take the Oath of Allegiance to the King; the book "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'" (Keynes, p. 4).Keynes 1.

Quarto (209 x 165mm). (First few leaves toned; staining and a few repairs intermittently in first three chapters.) Removed from old vellum binding, gatherings re-guarded and tipped into archival paper covers. Provenance: Herbert Jacob Esq. (armorial bookplate to title page verso) – Inner Temple (gilt supralibros on old vellum binding; stamp to title and a few other places) – Sotheby’s 16 December 1996, lot 18.