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  • "People go off to marvel at the height of mountains and the great waves of the sea and the broad courses of rivers, and the flow of the ocean, and the circuits of the stars: but they neglect themselves": C.S. Lewis' copy of Sir Thomas Browne's highly influential 17th century Christian confessional Religio Medici; with Lewis' ownership signature and notes throughout

    BROWNE, THOMAS. [C.S. LEWIS].

    Religio Medici and Other Essays by Sir Thomas Browne.

    London: Chapman & Hall, Ltd [1911].

    C.S. Lewis’ copy of Browne’s celebrated 17th century “confession of Christian faith qualified by an eclectic and generally skeptical attitude” (The Oxford Companion). Octavo, original boards, paper spine label, gilt vignette to the front panel, tissue-guarded engraved frontispiece portrait of Browne. British author and theologian C.S. Lewis’ copy with his ownership signature to the front free endpaper, “C.S. Lewis April 1919”, underlines, marks, and footnotes to several pages, most notably a lengthy quote from The Confessions of St. Augustine to page 29: “(1) Et eunt homines mirari alta montium et ingentes fluctus maris et latissimos lapsus fluminum et oceani ambitum et gynos siderum et relinquunt se ipsos nec mirantur. (Augustin.Conf.X.viii.15). Cf Davies Nosce Teipsum. Introd.p.49”, which translates as: “People go off to marvel at the height of mountains and the great waves of the sea and the broad courses of rivers, and the flow of the ocean, and the circuits of the stars: but they neglect themselves”, which Lewis has added as a footnote to the passage, “we carry with us the wonders we seek without us: there is all Africa and her prodigies in us “(1)” We are that bold and adventurous piece of nature, which he that studies wisely learns, in compendium, what others labour at in a divided piece and endless volume.” Lewis has also noted “Antimonies p. 41” on the verso of the rear endpaper and left marginal pencil marks next to several passages including, “As for those wingy mysteries in divinity and airy subtleties in religion which have unhinged the brains of better heads, they have never stretched the pia mater of mine. Methinks there be not impossibilities enough in religion for an active faith; the deepest mysteries ours contains have not only been illustrated, by maintained, by syllogism and the rule of reason” and “There is therefore some other hand that twines the thread of life than that of nature: we are not only ignorant in antipathies and occult qualities: our ends are as obscure as our beginnings: the line of our days is drawn by night, and the various effects therein by a pencil that is invisible.” Regarded by many as one of the most influential Christian apologists of his time, C.S. Lewis has been referred to as  “The Apostle to the Skeptics” due to his early approach to religious belief as a sceptic, and his following conversion. Lewis was very interested in presenting an argument from reason against metaphysical naturalism and for the existence of God. His works Mere Christianity, The Problem of Pain, and Miracles were all concerned, to one degree or another, with refuting popular objections to Christianity. His autobiography, Surprised by Joy, recounted his conversion and his most famous work, Chronicles of Narnia contained strong allegorical Christian messages. In near fine condition. A remarkable example linking two great intellectual theologians and exhibiting Browne’s direct influence on Lewis’ thinking.

    Price: $12,500.00     Item Number: 122430

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  • "We are told that the trouble with Modern Man is that he has been trying to detach himself from nature": First Edition of Lewis Thomas' Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher; Inscribed by Him

    THOMAS, LEWIS.

    Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher.

    New York: The Viking Press 1974.

    First edition of this classic work. Octavo, original half cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “To Margaret Carson with regards Lewis Thomas.” Fine in a near fine dust jacket. Rare and desirable signed.

    Price: $975.00     Item Number: 118459

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