The Works of Thomas Traherne II: Commentaries of Heaven, part 1: Abhorrence to Alone (Works of Thomas Traherne)

Thomas Traherne (1637? - 1674), a clergyman of the Church of England during the Restoration, was little known until the early twentieth century, when his poetry and Centuries of Meditations were discovered. There have been since miscellaneous publications of his poetry and devotional writings. The Works of Thomas Traherne brings together all of Traherne's extant works in a definitive, printed edition for the first time. It will include both his published and unpublished works, and his notebooks, presenting them insofar as possible by manuscript, giving due attention to their physical aspects and to their integrity as manuscript books. Volumes II and III make available the Commentaries of Heaven, preserved in one manuscript held at the British Library. Organised topically, it was intended to cover the whole of the alphabet but extends only through `A' and part of `B', with 95 prose articles altogether. It possesses the characteristics of a commonplace book, encyclopaedia and dictionary, and contains poetry, meditations, philosophical discourse, and polemic. The unusual range of subjects treated, from `Abhorrence' to `Ant', `Aristotle' to `Atom', shows Traherne to be an imaginative and compelling writer in his approach to Christian theology, while maintaining both his integrity and orthodoxy as a priest. Traherne's voice can be heard as never before. THE TABLETThomas Traherne [1637? - 1674], a clergyman of the Church of England during the Restoration, was little known until the early twentieth century, when his poetry and Centuries of Meditations were discovered. There have beensince miscellaneous publications of his poetry and devotional writings. The Works of Thomas Traherne brings together all of Traherne's extant works in a definitive, printed edition for the first time. It will include both his published and unpublished works, and his notebooks, presenting them insofar as possible by manuscript, giving due attention to their physical aspects and to their integrity as manuscript books. Volumes II and III make available the Commentaries of Heaven, preserved in one manuscript held at the British Library. Organised topically, it was intended to cover the whole of the alphabet but extends only through `A'and part of `B', with 95prose articles altogether. It possesses the characteristics of a commonplace book, encyclopaedia and dictionary, and contains poetry, meditations, philosophical discourse, and polemic. The unusual range of subjects treated, from `Abhorrence'to `Ant', `Aristotle'to `Atom', shows Traherne to be an imaginative and compelling writer in his approach to Christian theology, while maintaining both his integrity and orthodoxy as a priest. "Thomas Traherne (1637-1674), a clergyman of the Church of England during the Restoration, was little known until the early twentieth century, when his poetry and Centuries of Meditations were discovered. There have been since only miscellaneous publications of his poetry and devotional writings fully edited and published, a gap which The Works of Thomas Traherne will remedy by bringing together Traherne's extant works, including his notebooks, in a definitive, printed edition for the first time." "Volume IV makes available a single manuscript book held at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, never before published, the Church's Year-Book, Meditations and Devotions from the Resurrection to All Saints' Day, a work of celebration for the establishment and subsequent expansion of the universal Church and for the re-established Church of England. Also included is the anonymous devotional book that served as the key to the initial identification of Traherne's manuscripts, A Serious and