THE IMITATION OF CHRIST

London: Chapman and Hall, [1910]. 197 x 150 mm. (7 3/4 x 5 3/4"). 4 p.l., 293 pp.
ESPECIALLY APPEALING CRIMSON CRUSHED MOROCCO FOR TRUSLOVE & HANSON of Sloane Street (signed on front turn-in), covers with wide frame formed by two sets of double gilt rules flanking elegant blind-stamped leaf and berries ornaments that are joined by four parallel blind rules; raised bands, spine gilt in double-ruled compartments with blind-stamped circular cornerpieces, wide turn-ins with multiple gilt rules, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed. With a frontispiece portrait of the author. ◆Slight offsetting to endpapers from leather turn-ins, but A VERY FINE COPY, the lustrous binding entirely unworn, and the text quite clean, fresh, and bright.

This handsomely produced edition of the perennially popular devotional was the second work issued by the bibliophilic Verulam Club, and the elegance of its printing is matched here by the equally lovely binding, bearing the very uncommon stamped signature of Truslove & Hanson. One of London's most prestigious bookshops, Truslove & Hanson counted among its elevated patrons the Queen of Spain, who—according to the obituary of one of its managers--bought a set of A. A. Milne. The shop was acquired by W. H. Smith in 1923.

Named in honor of Lord Verulam (i.e., Francis Bacon), the Verulam Club was described in a contemporary review from "The International Studio: An Illustrated Magazine of Fine and Applied Art" as a group "which aims to produce great examples of literature in a manner befitting their contents. . . . These books are printed in a very legible type on British hand made paper . . . , and considering their excellent get up, they are well worth the money."

The "Imitation of Christ" depicts in four books the gradual movement of the soul away from earthly attachments toward Christian perfection in its union with God. According to Oxford Companion to English Literature, it "obtained wide popularity by its simplicity and sincerity and the universal quality of its religious teaching." Fortunately, previous owners have taken little advantage of the book's uplifting contents, and it appears little changed from the day it left the Truslove & Hanson premises..