The Christian Pattern, or the Imitation of Jesus Christ, Being an Abridgement of the Works of Thomas à Kempis. By a Female Hand

Book Description

London: Printed 1744. Germantown: Re-Printed by Christopher Sowr, 1749. First American edition of "De Imitatione Christi". . Contemporary sheep, blind rules on covers, raised bands. Binding worn, small chips from head and foot of spine, joints starting, free endpapers missing, some leaves loosened, text browned. Bookplate of F.E. Maser. Library Company of Philadelphia "First American Editions" p. 9; Parsons "Catholic Americana" 6 ; PMM 13 (for 1473 edition); Shipton and Mooney 6342; Finotti "Bibliographia Catholica Americana" p. 181 . First American edition of this book of Christian mystical thought, which has historically appealed to Catholics and Protestants alike. Indeed, it has been "the most widely read devotional manual apart from the Bible, perhaps even surpassing the influence of such books as Pilgrim's Progress and St. Augustine's Confessiones - this is at least partly due to the great simplicity of its style and its freedom from intellectualism or theological dogmatism." - PMM. "The Christian Pattern" was the title used both by John Wesley in 1735, and by George Stanhope, dean of Canterbury in 1698, for their versions. Although rhymes taken from the work had been published in Germantown in 1742 under the title of "Das Kleine ABC", this is the first American edition of the work, as adapted by a "Female Hand" which has yet to be identified

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