A Complete View of Christian's Travels from the City of Destruction to the Holy Land
- Title:
- A Complete View of Christian's Travels from the City of Destruction to the Holy Land
- Alternate Title:
- Christian's Travels from the City of Destruction to the Holy Land
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Bunyan, John
- Other Creators:
- Edward Johnston, J. Rivington, B. Law, W. Strahan, Hawes & Co., H. Woodfall, E. Johnston & R. Baldwin, publishers.
- Date:
- 1775
- Date 2:
- 2024-04-25
- ID Number:
- 2351.01
- File Name:
- PJM_2351_01Adj.jpg
- Style/Period:
- Before 1800
- Subject:
- Allegorical
Heaven and Hell
Religion - Measurement:
- 42 x 25 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- The collection includes a number of allegorical "roadmaps" intended to encourage the viewer to act in conformity with religious norms. See Subjects > Heaven and Hell; Subjects > Religion. This map comes from an edition of "The Pilgrim's Progress," a religious allegory by an English preacher, John Bunyan. Bunyan was not ordained by the Church of England and refused to use the Book of Common Prayer; "The Pilgrim's Progress" was likely begun while he was imprisoned for refusing to stop preaching. It was first published in 1678 and has often been called the most read book in the English language but for the Bible.
"The protagonist, named Christian, faces temptations and digressions that could prevent him from reaching his goal, God’s celestial city. The symbolic nature of the work lends itself to graphic illustration: the Slough of Despond, the Valley of the Shadow of Death, Vanity Fair—such 'obstacles' have become iconic in Western literature. The universal resonance of Bunyan’s work—it has been translated into more than two hundred languages—accounts for its never having been out of print." Delaney 2012, 201.
Certain editions of Bunyan’s work contain versions of the allegorical map, and there are several in the collection. ID #2351 (1775) shows Pilgrim’s road as a straight line from bottom to top; ID #1038 (1821) displays the path in three vertical segments, “strip-map” style; and ID #1055 (1850) renders the road as a spiral. The 18th century map is much larger than those of the 19th century and includes a great deal more textual material from the book. The later maps also differ in showing Hell as a more prominent and threatening place!
Interestingly, several scholars have suggested a correspondence between the topography and structures described in "The Pilgrim's Progress" and those Bunyan might have seen on his own journeys from Bedford to London; these are collected at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pilgrim%27s_Progress#Places_in_The_Pilgrim.27s_Progress, accessed December 6, 2014.
For further information on the Collector’s Notes and a Feedback/Contact Link, see https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/about-collection-personal-statement and https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/feedback-and-contact - Source:
- Bunyan, John. 1775. The Pilgrim's Progress From This World to That Which Is To Come. London: J. and F. Rivington, B. Law, W. Strahan, Hawes and Co., H. Woodfall, E. Johnston, and R. Baldwin.
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.