Newmanianism; A Preface to the Second Edition of Philomythus
London and New York: Macmillan and Co., 1891. Octavo (7 1/16 inches tall), contemporary three-quarter tan calf, gilt spine, marbled boards and endpapers, all edges gilt. Bookplate, light foxing to blank flyleaves. About Fine. Item #1638
"THE IDOLATRY OF NEWMANIANISM"
First separate printing of this preface to a new edition of Edwin Abott Abbott's Philomythus—a resumption of his attack on the Cult of Cardinal John Henry Newman. Originally issued in printed wrappers, this early binding was custom-bound with the engraved bookplate of the Rev. Samuel Ashton Thompson-Yates. Scarce.
Shortly after Cardinal Newman's death in August 1890, the Anglican clergyman Edwin A. Abbott published his book Philomythus, an Antidote Against Credulity: A Discussion of Cardinal Newman's Essay on Ecclesiastical Miracles. Writing, again, as Philomythus ("Lover of Myth"), Abbott's preface to his second edition was again highly critical of Newman's long-ago on essay on Ecclesiastical Miracles: "Words, and temper, would fail me, if I attempted to describe briefly the bewildering amazement, at first, and the absolute horror, at last, with which I was affected by that book." This new edition, however, reserves his harshest words for Newman's chief defenders, Wilfrid Ward and Richard Holt Hutton.
This Preface consists of fourteen numbered sections:1. The Motive of the Author, 2. The Criticism of "The Spectator," 3. The Editor of "The Spectator," 4. Mr. Ward's charge of "unmannerly abuse," 5. Mr. Ward's charge of "direct misrepresentation," 6. Mr. Ward's "Hopes," 7. The "Spectator's" Arithmetic, 8. An Appeal from the Editor of the "Spectator" to Mr. R.H. Hutton, 9. Mr. R.H. Hutton's "Cardinal Newman," 10. The Kingsleyan Controversy, 11. Mr. Hutton not much to blame, 12. Polemical Theology, 13. The Origin of this Book, 14. P.S. & 14. Mr. Hutton very much to blame. Abbott's brief conclusion is dated, "Braeside, Willow Road, N.W. / May 12, 1891." Tipped in at page lxxii, the "Working Order" slip (from the Bookbinder's Co-Operative Society, Ltd.) indicated that Thompson-Yates wanted this custom binding to "Preserve Covers," with the original printed wrappers bound in. Thompson-Yates passed away in 1902. Vincent Ferrer Blehl. John Henry Newman: A Bibliographical Catalogue of His Writings, A26a.
Price: $150.00