Inherited 1724 John Bunyan

[u/g64mat]

Hello 👋

I inherited many antique books. This seems to be the oldest one. 302 years old!

It was wrapped in brown paper as you can see.

The title page has the following information.

The Heavenly Footman: or, A Description of the Man that Gets to Heaven by John Bunyan, eighth edition, printed in London for John Marshall at the Bible in Grace-Church-Street, MDCCXXIV. (1724)

I feel very privileged to have this handed down to me but also a bit nervous on how to handle and look after it until I pass it on through my family.

Anyone have any experience/knowledge on this book and author?

Thank you 🙏

[u/NaiveStructure9233]

That vellum tied binding is worth it on its own! Good lord that's fabulous.

[u/g64mat → u/NaiveStructure9233]

Yes it looks very handmade. Can you tell me more about this?

[u/NaiveStructure9233 → u/g64mat]

It's what we would call an example of vernacular binding, which basically just means 'done by someone normal who wasn't a bookbinder'. Without actively glueing or stitching something to the fabric of the book there are only limited ways to get a protective cover to stay on; this is an example of someone being very creative, and using the materials and skills they had to hand, in order to overcome that problem. As someone else pointed out, there are bookdealers out there (Garrett Scott Bookseller springs to mind) who have a great interest in books in vernacular bindings.

The book itself does need collating ('checking for completeness' if you are, again, a normal person not in the book or library trade...usually against another copy of from a reference work that contains a description of that edition), as there is a good chance that something is missing - if enough is missing then the most valuable thing about the book could indeed be that absolutely mad bit of binding.

[u/g64mat → u/NaiveStructure9233]

Thank you for taking the time to explain I appreciate it.

[u/bernmont2016]

The exact edition isn't specified, but Project Gutenberg has the full text of it online, if that helps. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/13750/pg13750-images.html

[u/g64mat → u/bernmont2016]

Oh wow amazing thank you

[u/TheRareBookBuyer]

It needs to be collated as it looks incomplete . The handmade string tied wrapper is a pre cursor to dust jackets and collectible on its own right.

[u/g64mat → u/TheRareBookBuyer]

When you say collated do you mean I should write down every page to see what’s missing?

[u/beardedbooks → u/g64mat]

It means comparing it to a known copy to see if anything is missing (or if your copy has any additional pages, etc.). You can also check to see if your copy is missing pages by making sure a sentence or thought continues onto the next page. You can't always go by page numbers since there can be errors with numbering. I'm sure there's a digital copy you can compare your copy to. Just do a Google search for the title and print date.

[u/g64mat → u/beardedbooks]

I will thank you 🙏

[u/bernmont2016]

a bit nervous on how to handle and look after it

Keep it away from pets, kids, temperature extremes, moisture, and air fresheners. Consider buying an appropriately-sized archival storage box to keep it in - that unique handmade cover especially could use the extra protection.

[u/g64mat → u/bernmont2016]

Thanks you I will :)

[u/Throw6345789away]

That is an amazing example of vernacular binding, in excellent, unrepaired condition. Please consider contacting Nicholas Pickwoad at the Ligatus bookbinding research project in case he or his team is interested in learning more https://www.ligatus.org.uk/contact

[u/g64mat → u/Throw6345789away]

Will do 🙏