THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS BY JOHN BUNYAN EDITED, WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY THE REV. JOHN BROWN, B.A. OF BEDFORD AUTHOR OF "THE LIFE OF BUNYAN," ETC. London: HODDER AND STOUGHTON, 27, PATERNOSTER ROW. MDCCCLXXXVII. INTRODUCTION. NOT merely among the Prison-books of the world, but in literature at large, a high place of honour has by common consent been assigned to the Pilgrim's Progress. Taking all the facts of the case into account, we are led to the conclusion that the First Part was written in the Town Gaol on Bedford Bridge during a brief confinement of six months, to which Bunyan was subjected in the winter of 1675-76, and therefore three years after his long imprisonment of twelve years in the County Gaol was ended. The book is thus entered in the Register of the Stationers' Company: "22nd December 1677, Nathaniel Ponder entered then for his Coppy by vertue of a licence under the hand of Mr. Turner, and which is subscribed by Mr. Warden Vere, One Book or Coppy Intituled The Pilgrim's Progress from this world to that which is to come, delivered in ye Similitude of a Dream, by John Bunyan." The book was further licensed 18th February 1678, and was announced in a General Catalogue of Books published in Hilary Term, 1677-78, as "price, bound, |