Biathanatos; A Declaration of That Paradoxe, or Thesis, that Selfe-homicide is not so Naturally Sinne, that it may never be otherwise. Wherein the Nature, and the extent of all those Lawes, which Seeme to be Violated by this Act, are Diligently Surveyed
London: Humphrey Moseley, 1648. Item #76549
1648 edition. One of the earliest works on Suicide. Good to Very Good condition. Some foxing and slight staining. Antique bookplate of Charles W. Pilgrim (Renowned psychologist).. Some penciling to the inside cover. Also, an antiquarian small slip attached to an inside blank page. Older, nice binding, but no way to tell if this is the original binding.
Biathanatos (from Greek Βιαθανατος meaning "violent death") is a work by the English writer and clergyman John Donne. Written in 1608 and published after his death, it contains a heterodox defense of "self-homicide" (suicide), listing prominent Biblical examples including Jesus, Samson, Saul, and Judas Iscariot. Thomas De Quincey responds to the work in his "On Suicide", and Jorge Luis Borges responds in "Biathanatos".
Contents
Donne begins by addressing his patron, Phillip Harbert, then divides the book, after a preface, into three parts, each part divided into distinctions, each distinction divided into sections. The first part focuses on "The Law of Nature", the second on "The Law of Reason", and the third on "The Law of God", before ending with a conclusion.
In the 1640s and 1650s Moseley dominated the market for English poetry, issuing a series of single-poet collections—most prominently John Milton (Poems, 1645), but also John Donne, Edmund Waller, Richard Crashaw, Abraham Cowley, Henry Vaughan, and Sir John Suckling. In terms of the Cavalier–Roundhead conflict that dominated their generation, the poets and playwrights published by Moseley were, in the main, Royalist sympathizers—almost inevitably, since the Puritans were generally hostile to drama and imaginative literature, and closed the theatres during their rule. Moseley was known to have Royalist sympathies himself—which makes his role as publisher to the Puritan Milton surprising.
Price: $4,500.00