The chief point of interest in all these variations lies in the fact that Peter Parker, not Simmons, issued the first volumes. As we have pointed out above, the theory has been advanced that the owner of the copyright was timid about avowing his connection with the poet. A more natural reason would seem to be that he was unable to print the book at first, through losses, in the Fire perhaps, of presses and types. Such a theory would seem to derive weight from the fact that the issues of 1668 and 1669 which bear his name do not give an address, and it is not until the second edition of 1674 that we find him "next door to the Golden Lion in Aldersgate-ſtreet." The original selling price of the volume was three shillings. The prices now vary according to the sequence of the title-pages. A copy of the first issue sold in New York in 1901 for eight hundred and thirty dollars. The volume has no introductory matter, but begins at once with the lines "Of Mans Firſt Diſobedience"; Simmons added the following note to the second edition: "There was no Argument at firſt intended to the Book, but for the ſatisfaction of many that have deſired it, is procured." The printer adopted a very useful custom in numbering the lines of the poem. He set the figures down by tens in the margin, within the double lines that frame the text. Quarto. The first edition with the first title-page. COLLATION: _Two leaves without signatures; A-Z, and Aa-Vv2, in fours. Without pagination._ JOHN BUNYAN (1628-1688) 34. The | Pilgrims Progreſs | [Eleven lines] By John Bunyan. | Licenſed and Entered according to Order. | London, | Printed for Nath. Ponder at the Peacock | in the Poultrey near Cornhil, 1678. In 1672 Bunyan was released from the gaol, which, possibly with a brief interval, had been his "close and uncomfortable" home for twelve years; and Ponder, who, for his connection with his famous client, was called "Bunyan's Ponder," entered the imperishable story, written in "similitudes," at the Stationers' Hall, December 22, 1677. The customary fee of sixpence being duly paid, early in the following year the book was licensed, and soon after published at one shilling sixpence. Its success was very great: the first year saw a second edition, and the year following a third, each with important additions. Southey stated, in 1830, when he put out a new edition of the book, that there was no copy of the first edition known, but since then five have been unearthed, two of which are perfect.