The Sermons of John Donne, Volume I

The Sermons of John Donne, edited with introductions and critical apparatus by George R. Potter and Evelyn M. Simpson, represents the first comprehensive scholarly edition of the prose works of Donne that established him as one of the foremost preachers of seventeenth-century England. Issued in ten volumes, the series collates Donne’s one hundred and sixty extant sermons, which had previously circulated in seventeenth-century folios (the *LXXX Sermons* of 1640, the *Fifty Sermons* of 1649, and the *XXVI Sermons* of 1661) or as separately printed quartos. Potter and Simpson reconstruct the bibliographical history of these printings, examine extant manuscripts, and document the fraught transmission of Donne’s texts, particularly the interventions of his son, John Donne Jr., whose careless editing shaped the folios. Their editorial introductions situate Donne’s preaching within the political and ecclesiastical contexts of Jacobean and Caroline England, highlighting both the textual corruption and the survival of a rich homiletic corpus that might otherwise have been lost.

The edition underscores Donne’s sermons as literary achievements equal in stature to his poetry and devotional prose. The editors analyze their rhetorical brilliance, their blending of theological rigor with imaginative conceit, and their responsiveness to occasions ranging from court preaching at Whitehall to civic addresses at Paul’s Cross. Donne emerges as a preacher attuned to Scripture, controversy, and the performance of eloquence before audiences of power and piety. The critical apparatus provides variant readings, textual notes, and commentary on sources, while the introductions offer detailed accounts of printing history, manuscript provenance, and Donne’s position among contemporary divines. By assembling the full range of his preaching and clarifying its transmission, Potter and Simpson’s edition established *The Sermons of John Donne* as indispensable for scholars of early modern literature, theology, and intellectual history, illuminating the pulpit as the stage on which Donne articulated his most sustained reflections on mortality, grace, and the condition of humankind.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1953.