LIST AND COLLATION OF THE EDITIONS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. No. 1. Poems, | By J. D. | With | Elegies | On The Author's Death | London. | Printed by M. F. for John Marriot, and are to be sold at his shop in St. Dunstans | Church-yard in Fleet Street. 1633. COLLATION: Sm. 4to. Title, pp. viii (not paged), pp. 406, with errors in the numbering. Facing the title-page in some copies is a portrait of Donne (Lombart Sculp. A Londre), with the inscription: Viri Seraphici Joannis Donne. Quadragenarii Effigies vera, Qui post eam ætatem Sacris initiatus Ec- Año {Dōm 16310. Etatis suæ 59°. In some copies sheet A was misplaced by the binder, so that A 3 and 4 follow the title-page. They contain the prose introduction to "The Progress of the Soul," headed "Infinitati Sacrum, 16 Augusti 1601. Metempsycosis. Poêma Satyricon.- Epistle." The other unnumbered pages contain "The Printer to the Understanders,” and on the last page these verses: Hexastichon Bibliopolae. I see in his last preach'd and printed booke And see his Statue in a sheete of stone, And sure his body in the grave hath one: Those sheetes present him dead, these if you buy iii Jo. MAR. xxxiii Little method is observable in the arrangement of the poems in this edition. Poems of the same general character are imperfectly grouped, and there is no attempt at chronological order. Pp. 351372 are occupied by Letters in prose to Sir Henry Goodere, with one to the Countess of Bedford. Pp. 373-406 contain Elegies upon the Author. No. 2. 1635. Same title and preliminary matter as in No. 1, date of title only being changed. COLLATION: Sm. 8vo. Title. Pp. x unnumbered, pp. 388, and pp. 32 unpaged, containing the Elegies on the Author. Portrait of Donne in oval frame. Will. Marshall, sculpsit. In upper left-hand corner the words, Anno Dñi 1591 Ætatis Suae 18. In the opposite corner the author's coat of arms, with a sheaf of snakes for crest, and the motto, Antes muerto que mudado. Under the portrait this inscription: This was for youth, Strength, Mirth, and wit that Time Thine was thy later yeares, so much refind From youths Drosse, Mirth, & wit; as thy pure mind Of thy Creator, in those last, best Dayes. Witnes this Booke, (thy Embleme) which begins With Love; but endes, with Sighes, & Teares for sins. On p. vi (unpaged), after Hexastichon Bibliopolae, are the following verses: Hexastichon ad Bibliopolam. In thy Impression of Donnes Poems rare, Then follows the Infinitati Sacrum, misplaced as in 1633, the poem to which it is the introduction being found at p. 301. In this edition the poems were arranged in an order which was followed, with slight variations, in all the subsequent editions of the seventeenth century. The following poems appear for the first time in this edition : To the Countess of Huntingdon; A Dialogue between Sir H. Wotton and Mr. Donne; To Ben Jonson 6 Jan. 1603 (not by Donne); To Ben Jonson 9 Novembris 1603; To Sir T. Rowe 1603; Epitaph on Himself (twice); four additional Holy Sonnets; On the Blessed Virgin Mary; On the Sacrament (not by Donne); Upon the translation of the Psalms by Sir Ph. Sidney; Ode, To Mr. Tilman, after he had taken orders; Hymn to God, my God, in my sickness; Elegy on the L. C.; Song, "Souls Joy"; Song, "Dear Love" (probably neither of these songs was by Donne); Farewell to Love; A Lecture upon the Shadow; Elegies xi-xv, xvii; Elegy on his Mistress; Elegy on Mistress Boulstred; Satire 6th; Latin Poem to Dr. Andrews. The Epitaph on Shakespeare (not by Donne) is omitted. The following document, first printed from the original in the Record Office by the Rev. A. B. Grosart in his edition of Donne's Poems, in "The Fuller Worthies' Library," 1873, Vol. ii, p. lii, is of interest as showing the unauthorized character of the edition of 1635. To ye most Reuerende father in God Metropolitan of all Eng lande his Grace. The humble Petition of John Donne, Clercke, Doth show unto your Grace that since ye death of his Father (latly Deane of Pauls) there hath bene manie scandalous Pamflets printed and published vnder his name, which were none of his, by seueral Boocksellers, without anie leaue or Autoritie; in particuler one entitoled Juuenilia, printed for Henry Seale; another by John Marriott and William Sheares, entitoled Ignatius his Conclaue, as allsoe certaine Poems by ye sayde John Marriote: of which abuses thay have bene often warned by your Petitioner and tolde that if thay desisted not, thay should be proceeded against beefore your Grace, which thay seeme so much to slight, that thay professe soddainly to publish new impressions, verie much to the greife of your petitioner and the discredite of ye memorie of his Father. Wherefore your Petitioner doth beeseech your Grace that you would bee pleased by your Commaunde to stopp their farther proceedinge herein and to call the forenamed boocksellers beefore you to give an account for what they have allreadie done; and your Petitioner shall pray, etc. I require ye Partyes whom this Petition concernes not to meddle any farther with ye Printing or Selling of any ye pretended workes of ye late Deane of St. Paules saue onely such as shall be licensed by publike authority, and approued by the Petitioner, as they will answer ye contrary at theyr perill. And of this I desire Mr Deane of ye Arches to take care. W. CANT. Dec 16 1637. The injunction of the Archbishop seems to have had no effect, for the editions of 1639 and 1649 are practically reissues of that of 1635. No. 3. 1639. COLLATION: Sm. 8vo. Title. Pp. vi unpaged, pp. 388, and pp. 32 unpaged, containing the Elegies on the Author. Same portrait, title-page, and preliminary matter as in No 2, except that the introduction to "The Progress of the Soul" is inserted on unnumbered pages in its proper place before the poem. The pagination is the same as in No. 2. The variations in the text are few and slight. No. 4. 1649. COLLATION: Sm. 8vo. Title. Pp. vi unpaged, pp. 368, and pp. 32 unpaged. Same portrait, title-page, etc., as in preceding. Same arrangement of poems. Two are added: Upon Mr. Thomas Coryat's Crudities, and Sonnet, The Token. The text shows some mostly unimportant variations from that of preceding editions. No. 5. 1650. Poems. | By J. D. | with | Elegies | on the | Author's Death | To which | Is added divers Copies under his own hand | never before in print. | London, | Printed for John Marriot, and are | to be sold by Richard Marriot at his shop | by Chancery lane end over against the Inner | Temple gate. 1650. COLLATION: Portrait by Marshall, as in the preceding. Following the title-page is an Epistle Dedicatory, by John Donne, son of the poet, addressed To the Right Honourable William Lord Craven, Baron of Hamsted-Marsham. On the back of the last page of the Epistle, besides the verses printed in the three preceding editions, is the following Epigram: TO JOHN DONNE. Donne, the delight of Phoebus and each Muse, B. JONS. As far as p. 368, this corresponds, with the exception of the preliminary matter noted above, with the edition of the preceding year, and is printed from the same type. Then come the "Divers copies never before in print," occupying pp. 369–392, as follows: "Newes from the very Countrey" (prose); "Amicissimo et meritissimo Ben. Jonson. In Vulponem.”; a satirical epistle in Latin prose, without title, addressed to a courtier, accompanying a Catalogus Librorum, a catalogue of supposititious works by noted authors; “In sacram anchoram Piscatoris. G. Herbert "; the translation of the preceding; "To Mr. George Herbert, with one of my Seal, of the Anchor and |