News, Events & Exhibits

John Bunyan (1628-1688), an ex-soldier from the English Civil War, became a tinker (metal worker) and then a Baptist preacher, a transformation he recounts in his autobiography Grace Abounding (1666). His best-known work The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678), “delivered under the similitude of a dream,” is an allegory of the Christian’s journey from the City of Destruction to the Heavenly City. Through the 18th and 19th centuries, Bunyan’s story was one of the most frequently-reprinted of all English books, both in Britain and America. The Wickenheiser Collection, with over 900 separate editions of The Pilgrim’s Progress as well as early editions of many of Bunyan’s other works, was built by Dr. Robert J. Wickenheiser. It comes to the library with a generous gift element donated by Dr. and Mrs. Wickenheiser, who also built the library’s John Milton collection. This exhibit is curated by Dr. Patrick Scott.