John Bunyan | First Editions

1628 - 1688

John Bunyan (baptised 30 November 1628 – died 31 August 1688) was an English writer and Baptist preacher, best remembered as the author of the Christian allegory, The Pilgrim's Progress. He wrote nearly sixty titles, many of them expanded sermons.

Bunyan became interested in religion after his marriage, first attending the parish church, and then joining the Bedford Meeting (a nonconformist group in Bedford). In this period, he became a preacher. After the restoration of the monarch, Bunyan was arrested and spent the next twelve years in jail. His sentence length was due to his refusal to give up preaching. During this time, he wrote a spiritual autobiography, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, and began work on his most famous book, The Pilgrim's Progress, which was not published until some years after his release. The Pilgrim's Progress became one of the most published books in the English language; 1,300 editions having been printed by 1938, 250 years after the author's death.