A letter to a friend upon occasion of the death of his intimate friend; edited with a postscript by Geoffrey Keynes Kt.
Boston: David R. Godine, 1971. 4to. [ii], 41 pp., including half-title. Black calf-backed boards in matching slip-case, gilt lettering on spine and marbled end-papers. An excellent copy. Item #12056
Limited edition, number 7 of 750 copies printed at the University Press, Oxford, by Vivian Ridler. Written about a young man who died of tuberculosis while under his care, A letter to a friend “is essentially a clinical report, including the patient’s medical history, the signs and symptoms of his illness, and the pathological evidences of disease found after his death” (postscript). The editor of this edition speculates that the young man was translator Robert Loveday, and that the recipient was Browne’s friend, Sir John Pettus, a wealthy royalist. It was first published in a folio pamphlet in 1690.
Price: $75.00