John Donne was both the first of the "Metaphysical" school of poets, and the most famous Dean St. Paul's has ever known. Izaak Walton's life of this gifted man might never have been written had it not been for the untimely death of Donne's first intended biographer, Sir Henry Wotton. Biographer and subject met when Donne was still only vicar of St. Dunstan's-in-the-West, and Walton was his sidesman. The sympathetic and detailed portrait Walton was to write was the product of a life-long friendship between two great writers. His "plain picture" is a poignant account of a chequered career; imprisoned for a clandestine marriage, Donne later became a favorite of King James I. His poetry and sermons, sensuous and powerful evocations of the great moral dilemmas of the flesh and spirit, are as powerful today as they were in the seventeenth century. That his life has remained as important as his work is almost entirely due to Izaak Walton, and his "artless pencil, guided by the hand of truth." Frontispiece portrait of Donne printed on art paper Designed by Malcom Harvey Young Set in Spectrum Folio Fine Press Edition Limited print run of around 1,000 copies Printed letterpress Antique Laid paper from Van Gelder mill in Holland Quarter-bound in silk Hand-marbled papers from Mitchell & Malik, Wiltshire Royal Octavo (10" x 6 1/4")