[Item #57387] The Apocryphal New Testament, Being All the Gospels, Epistles, and Other Pieces Now Extant, Attributed in the First Four Centuries to Jesus Christ, His Apostles, and Their Companions, and Not Included in the New Testament, by Its Compilers. APOCRYPHA, William HONE.

The Apocryphal New Testament, Being All the Gospels, Epistles, and Other Pieces Now Extant, Attributed in the First Four Centuries to Jesus Christ, His Apostles, and Their Companions, and Not Included in the New Testament, by Its Compilers

London: William Hone, [ca 1823]. Octavo (23cm). Original beige publisher's cloth, printed in black on front and rear; yellow coated endpapers; [i]-xv [16-18] 19-271pp; 1823 ad for Ancient Mysteries Described to rear board. T.p. with dealer's stamp from Nelson Self Help Books, Chicago; 1859 ownership inscription to f.f.e.p.; modern bookplate of James Mead to pastedown. A straight copy with general moderate wear and dustsoil, front hinge entirely split, rear hinge cracked but holding: Good.

Hone began his publishing career by printing radical reformist works, including efforts to reform London insane asylums. In 1817 he was tried for blasphemy for the publication of three satirical pamphlets. Though he was acquitted, and popularly praised as a champion of the free press, he then turned towards antiquarian publishing as a more stable career path. "Investigating the manuscripts at the British Museum led to the discovery of the little-known New Testament apocrypha, which he very rapidly published, to the great discomfort of Christian orthodoxy; the book had a stormy reception" in 1820 (ODNB). In 1823, he followed it with Ancient Mysteries Described, a work on medieval mystery plays, which also challenged received wisdom about scriptural knowledge.

Though the title page of this edition is dated 1820, the large ad for Ancient Mysteries Described on the rear board suggests a date of 1823. Eric Quayle argues that the issue of Ancient Mysteries Described cited in the ad, sometimes cited as the earliest binding dated on the cloth, was actually an even later remainder: "cloth with this watered-silk effect. . . did not come into use until" the later 1820s, and this example "can be disregarded in the story of cloth binding" (Collector's Book of Books p.107). If that binding is later than 1823, so must this be; nevertheless, a curious issue of a provocative title.

Price: $150.00

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