The Christian's Defence Against the Fears of Death, With Seasonable Directions How to Prepare Ourselves to Die Well. Written Originally in French, by the Late Reverend Divine of the Protestant Church of Paris, Charles Drelincourt. Translated into English, by Marius D'Assigny, B.D. The Twentieth Edition New Corrected: With an Account of the Author, and His Last Minutes.

DRELINCOURT, Charles (1595-1669), [D'ASSIGNY, Marius, translator].

London: Printed for H. Woodfall, J. Hinton, John Rivington, etc., 1768. [Theology] SCARCE. Octavo (21 x 13cm), pp.[4]; xii; 12; 503; [3]. With an engraved frontispiece. Brown full calf, gilt double ruling to boards. Raised bands to spine. Blind tooling to board edges. Leaves gently toned with some marking and light soiling throughout. Interior woodworm damage including loss to the bottom of textblock from page 475 to finish, no interference to text. Ownership inscription in black ink to flyleaf, light pencil annotation to pastedown. Toning to edges. Boards worn but well-preserved, with soiling to lower. Heavy damage to joints and spine, exposing interior. Bumping to corners. Good. Being the twentieth edition, this copy includes the short story 'A True Relation of the Apparition of one Mrs. Veal,' which was written allegedly by Daniel Defoe in 1706, and incorporated so as to market D'Assigny's English translation of the text. In the macabre tale, the ghost of Mrs. Veal pays a visit to an old friend one last time, where they talk about Drelincourt's book of death "which was the best, she said, on that subject, ever written." Following the main text is a detailed account of Drelincourt's death, including passages claiming that he consulted his own book to prepare for his soul's departure. Item #63812

Price: £475.00