AN INTERESTING AND SUBSTANTIAL 1849 FIRST EDITION ON AN INFLUENTIAL WORK ON BIBLICAL PROPHECY.
Fully titled and subtitled, An Inquiry Into the Nature, Progress, and End of Prophecy, In Three Books: I. On the Covenants, II. An Exposition of the Visions of the Prophet Daniel, III. An Exposition of the Revelation of St. John. Authored by Samuel Lee, published by Cambridge : Printed at the University Press, Sold by Seeleys of London, in 1849. FIRST EDITION, in original cloth with some wear issues. The board attachments to the text block has been reinforced with tape both outside and in the gutters behind the boards, particularly the back board. There is loss to top and bottom of spine. The cloth is clean and the board edges and corners show light wear. Original yellow endpapers, a previous owner signed the front endpaper. There was an occasional pencil marking seen in the book - one example in listing photo. The pagination is, cxxxvi (136) preliminary pages of an "Introduction", one additional unnumbered leaf (2 pages), 509 numbered pages, followed by a single page advertising other works by the author. Included is a fold-out "Tabular Scheme..." in Excellent Condition.
Published in 1849, An Inquiry into the Nature, Progress, and End of Prophecy is a substantial and historically significant work of biblical scholarship by Samuel Lee (1783–1852), distinguished English Orientalist, linguist, and Regius Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge University. Lee was also formerly Sir Thomas Adams's Professor of Arabic at Cambridge and was widely respected for his scholarship in Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, and other Eastern languages.
Samuel Lee was an important early advocate of the theological interpretation now commonly called "preterism", which holds that many biblical prophecies, particularly those concerning judgment, the end of an age, and the coming of God's kingdom, were fulfilled through events associated with the establishment of Christianity and the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. Lee challenged interpretations that placed the fulfillment of numerous biblical prophecies in the distant future, instead arguing that the historical events of the early Christian era provided the proper context for understanding much of the prophetic literature.
Cliff's Books
B62