The Scots Worthies; Their Lives and Testimonies, Rev. J. A. Wylie, William Mackenzie, London, Edinburgh and Glasgow, 1876
A particularly substantial and extensively illustrated Victorian edition of John Howie's celebrated Scots Worthies, the classic collection of biographies commemorating the leading figures of Scotland's Reformation and Covenanting history. First published in 1775, Howie's work preserved the lives and testimonies of reformers, ministers, Covenanters and martyrs who struggled for Presbyterianism and religious liberty in Scotland during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This enlarged edition, edited by the prominent Scottish Presbyterian historian and author Rev. J. A. Wylie (1808-1890), considerably extends the original work with additional biographies and historical notes, together with Wylie's substantial introductory history of the period. Among the figures represented are John Knox and many of the leading personalities of the Scottish Reformation and Covenanting movements. Particularly impressive in this large-format edition are its numerous full-page portraits and historical illustrations, together with a folding facsimile of the National Covenant.
Wylie was a prolific historian of Protestantism and is best remembered for his multi-volume History of Protestantism, making his editorship particularly appropriate to Howie's strongly Presbyterian account of Scottish history.
The Scots Worthies; Their Lives and Testimonies. Including Many Additional Notes and Lives of Eminent Worthies Not Contained in the Original Collection. Edited by the Rev. J. A. Wylie, LL.D., assisted by Rev. James Anderson. With an Introductory Sketch of the History of the Period by the Editor.
Published by William Mackenzie, London, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Undated, but thought to be 1876 (from National Library of Scotland / Worldcat). Printed in Glasgow.
A good, and very substantial, hardback with black leather spine and corners, with cloth over boards featuring John Knox gilt portrait to front. Spine with raised bands, and tooled gilt decoration to compartments. Covers are scuffed and bumped and cloth colour faded with some soiling. Binding is completely sound.
Some spotting to endpapers, and offsetting to tissue guards from Plates. The Plates themselves remain very good indeed with just the very occasional scattered spot. With gilt edges all round. The fold-out featuring the covenant has a tear where it meets the gutter and has an archival tape repair to rear.
Text in English.
(iv) titles/contents + 8pp Recommendations to this edition + lxxxiv + 872pp + 30 Plates, all but one with bound-in tissue guards, including frontispiece of John Knox and fold-out facsimile of the Covenant. All Plates present as called for.