Thomas Traherne [1637? - 1674], a clergyman of the Church of England during the Restoration, was little known until the early twentieth century, when his poetry and Centuries of Meditations were discovered. There have been since miscellaneous publications of his poetry and devotional writings. The Works of Thomas Traherne brings together all of Traherne's extant works in a definitive, printed edition for the first time. It will include both his published and unpublished works, presenting them insofar as possible by manuscript, giving due attention to their physical aspects and to their integrity as manuscript books. The text of Traherne's works will be printed in seven volumes, with an eighth volume of commentary. The first volume makes available in print four treatises contained in a single manuscript recently discovered in 1997 at Lambeth Palace Library. While they bear the stamp of Traherne's unique character of thought and writing, they are diverse in subject and form. Traherne wrote against a background of scepticism as well as a growing atheism. These four worksshow him to be profoundly aware the currents of his age, theological, political, sociological and scientific, to which he responded with thoughtful and imaginative insights. They show him also to be a compelling apologist for the Christian religion and for the goodness of the church.
This much needed and important edition of the works of Thomas Traherne makes a valuable contribution not only to Traherne studies but also to seventeenth century studies in general.
