Walsingham; The History of a Famous Shrine
London: Burns Oates & Washbourne, 1946. First edition. Original mauve cloth (7 1/2 inches tall), gilt spine, separate folding map (7 3/8 by 9 7/8 inches). Early owner signature to blank flyleaf, gentle bumping to corner, slight toning to bright spine, two fold lines to map, closed tear along left horizontal fold. Very good indeed. Item #1233
"WHEN ENGLAND GOES BACK TO WALSINGHAM, OUR LADY WILL COME BACK TO ENGLAND"
First edition of H.M. Gillett's history of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham—accompanied here by a separately-printed folding map of Walsingham in two colors.
Gillett chronicles the rise and fall of "England's Nazareth" from it's medieval origins until the suppression and burning of the shrine in 1538. The concluding chapter, The Return to Walsingham, describes the Catholic rebirth of the Shrine after three centuries of slumber.
In August 1934, on the Feast of the Assumption, Bishop Laurence Youens celebrated the first public Mass in the Slipper Chapel in four hundred years, followed by a national pilgrimage of the Catholic bishops of England and Wales (led by Cardinal Francis Bourne) and more than 10,000 people to the Vale of Walsingham. Illustrated with a frontispiece ("Walsingham Priory") after a painting by John Sell Cotman, 12 black-and-white photographs (by Claude Fisher), a plan of Walsingham Priory, and illustrations of the Walsingham Priory Seal. The folding map, printed in two colors within a thick ruled border, is laid-in loose. With a short Foreword by Archbishop Godfrey (dated, "William Godfrey / Lady Day, 1945") asking "God to give back the glories of old and to lead our native land to that love of the Mother of Christ which once was in Mary's Dower." The text is supplemented with a series of Appendices (numbered I - VII), a Bibliography (numbered 1 - 41), and an Index. Printed with the Authorized Economy Standards statement. Without scarce original dust jacket.
Price: $65.00