"I CARRY MY EARS TO HEAR OTHER PREACHERS, BUT I CARRY MY CONSCIENCE TO HEAR MR. SANDERSON"

WALTON, Izaak. The Life of Dr. Sanderson, Late Bishop of Lincoln… To which is added, Some short Tracts or Cases of Conscience, written by said Bishop. London: Richard Marriott, 1678. Octavo, 20th-century full dark green morocco gilt, raised bands, brown morocco spine labels, all edges gilt; housed in a custom chemise and pull-off box. $6500.

First edition of the last of Walton's four famed biographies, with engraved frontispiece portrait of Sanderson, inscribed by him on the title page, "For Mr. John Millington, I. W., " with a number of corrections in the text in Walton's hand. Handsomely bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe.

Best known for his classic work on fly-fishing, The Compleat Angler (1653), Walton is also celebrated for the four biographies he wrote on Sir Henry Wotton, John Donne, Richard Hooker and Robert Sanderson. "More than most authors [Walton] lives in his writings, which are the pure expression of a kind, humorous, and pious soul in love with nature, while the expression itself is unique for apparent simplicity which is really studied art. His character is no less apparent in his biographies than in his Angler" (DNB). Sanderson (1587-1663) took orders in 1611 and quickly rose within the church, appointed a royal chaplain in 1631. Charles I held him in particularly high regard; Walton reports in this work that Charles I said of him "I carry my ears to hear other preachers, but I carry my conscience to hear Mr. Sanderson." His appointment as professor of Divinity at Oxford was barred during the English Civil War, but after the Restoration in 1660 he was appointed Bishop of Lincoln. With ink corrections in two different contemporary hands, one of which is clearly that of Walton. The corrections in Walton's hand are found on b2r, b5v, b7v, c3r, d5v, d8r, h7v and 1lr, all of which correspond to errors listed on the Errata page. Pforzheimer 1053. The recipient of this copy, John Millington, was executor of the estate of Anthony Farindon, minister of St. Mary Magdalen, Milk Street; at one point he contacted Walton to propose that he finish Farindon's uncompleted work on theologian John Hales (an offer Walton appears to have declined). From the collection of publisher and bookseller William Pickering, appearing in the sale of his library at Sotheby's in 1854, and later from the collection of American industrialist and philanthropist John Gribbel, with his bookplate.

Interior clean; very handsomely bound. An exceptional presentation copy.