Page:The pilgrims progress as originally published by John Bunyan ; being a facsimile of the first edition (1878).djvu/11



The first edition of The Pilgrim's Progress, of which an exact reproduction is now placed before the public, was issued by "Nath. Ponder at the Peacock in the Poultrey near Cornhill, 1678." For many years, only one copy was known to exist, viz., that in the library of R. S. Holford, Esq.; it is from this that the present facsimile is produced. At the present time, four copies are known to exist. The example from which the present edition is printed is a compact volume, printed on yellowish grey paper, from, apparently, new type; and so perfectly has it been preserved, that it seems to be in precisely the state in which it left the publisher's shelves. It is a book as full of material peculiarities as any that ever taxed the correctness of a fac-similist; and it may not be out of place to draw attention to some of them.

The spelling and grammar are frequently