The Sincere Christian Instructed in the Faith of Christ From the Written Word Volume 2 (by George Hay).

The Sincere Christian Instructed in the Faith of Christ From the Written Word Volume 2 (by George Hay, no author listed). Hardcover book (vintage leather bound)(no dust jacket) published by Dublin P. Wogan No 23 Old Bridge 1801, 396 pages.

“George Hay (1729 – 1811) was a Roman Catholic bishop and writer who served as the Vicar Apostolic of the Lowland District in Scotland from 1778 to 1805. He published the first English Catholic Bible printed in Scotland; but the work which secured his own reputation as a religious writer was his cycle of Catholic doctrine entitled The Sincere Christian, The Devout Christian, and The Pious Christian, published 1781–86.”

(I know i've written about this issue previously, but here I go again...)

This is volume 2 only. Usually I pick up lone wolf volumes by mistake and from what I can gather this is not an uncommon thing for booksellers to do in the heat of the moment. I've seen bookcases full of lonely volumes out the back of other booksellers premises, pining for their partners (…the books, not the booksellers), waiting patiently for the happy reunion that realistically will never happen. During a frenzied book selection process, it can be hard to carefully consider each book as carefully as they probably need to be considered. It's usually only when you get home and start sorting through the haul/treasure/dreck that you realise the mistake you've made (again) and then vow (again) to be more thorough when selecting under pressure. These errors can include unseen damage, faulty items, etc etc. For many of us it is hard to admit the mistake and move on, hence bookcases full of single volume multivolume sets.

A single volume pining for it's partner

I recently found this book with a whole lot of other vintage volumes that unfortunately were not as vintage as this one... and fortunately at the time, I did realise that it was volume 2 only. This means that when I got home and began my sorting process, I was not surprised/disappointed/pissed off, at another book buying error. This time I knew what I had done. It's not that I knew the title, was excited by the subject or had an idea of it's $$$ value. No, this was purely a textural appreciation of a fine, very worn, vintage volume. It was this feel and overall visible aura of vintageness which included the paper stock, the font, the language contained within and the sense of time, that attracted me to it. Sometimes we make mistakes, I don't think I have this time around. This is a beautiful book.

Like “Fifty Shades of Grey”, this book is part one of a series of volumes. George Hay, the author, was notable for some hard core catholic publications including the first English Catholic Bible (…he didn't write it, he just published it). This particular edition is from 1801 and I believe it's not a first... but who cares, it's from 1801, that's 213 years ago... and it is very rare. Rare enough for me to not regret picking up this wonderful and beautiful single volume of a 2 volume set. ...and like Fifty Shades of Grey, I can't see myself reading it... although if I had to make a choice between the two...!