Apologia pro Vita sua:

with the original wrappers bound-in

The first edition of John Henry Newman's (1801-1890) great spiritual autobiography and defence of Roman Catholic doctrine, with the original wrappers bound-in to the rear.

As a young man, Newman had been a leading member of the Oxford Movement, which proposed a 'via media' between the reformed Christianity of the Protestant churches and Roman Catholicism. It had been his idea to pen the 'Tracts for the Times', a series of 90 theological essays which sought to secure the Church of England a firm doctrinal footing grounded in apostolic succession, and so free it from Parliamentary interference, giving rise to the movement's second moniker, Tractarianism. His later conversion to Catholicism led to Newman's quiet withdrawal from English public life for nearly twenty-years until the events of 1864 offered an opportunity for his return to the public stage. The subsequent success of the Apologia marked a turning point in the fortunes of his late life, culminating in Newman's elevation to the College of Cardinals in 1879, and his eventual canonisation in 2019.

The controversy was triggered by a review of Froude's History of England which appeared in Macmillan's Magazine in January 1864. The author, Charles, Kingsley (1819-1875), Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge, was also an ordained Anglican priest with connections to the royal household. In discussing Froude's treatment of Catholic intrigue in the reign of Elizabeth I, Kingsley made the sloppy assertion that 'Truth for its own sake has never been a virtue of the Roman clergy. Father Newman informs us that it need not, and on the whole ought not, to be', a contention which he supported by citing Newman's sermon on 'Wisdom and Innocence' preached in 1844 whilst he was still an ordained Anglican priest (ODNB).

The Apologia pro Vita sua ('Apology for his Life') appeared in response. In it, Newman objected to the 'base insinuation that I have taught equivocation' (p.21) — the doctrine of mental reservation advocated by some casuists in the Church which recognised the lie of necessity. The work opens and closes with a thorough repudiation of Kingsley's criticism, which he saw ultimately as 'an attack upon the Catholic Religion... He desired to impress upon the public mind the conviction that I am a crafty, scheming man, simply untrustworthy; that, in becoming a Catholic, I have just found my right place' (p.6). The remainder is given over to a 'History of My Religious Opinions', containing a detailed account of Newman's involvement in the Oxford Movement and his spiritual conversion to Roman Catholicism.

'His early, unhappy, neglected years in the Roman Church culminated in the controversy with Charles Kingsley which produced the Apologia pro Vita sua, from which time on his integrity was wholly vindicated, and his position both as a human being and as a member of the Roman Catholic Church became a great deal easier' (PMM).

'The public rightly regards the Apologia as the most typical and important of the writings of its author' (Wilfrid Ward).

First edition; 8vo (22 x 14.5 cm); original wrappers bound-in at rear, newspaper portrait of Carinal Newman pasted to front pastedown, newspaper obituary pasted to Part I divisional title, bookplate to front free endpaper recto, further tipped-in ownership slip to title-page, and related inscription in pen to fly-leaf recto; late 19th-century panelled-calf gilt, gilt spine, contrasting red morocco lettering-piece, top-edge gilt, a little rubbed, covers slightly abraded, very good; iv, 430, 127, [1]pp.

cf.PMM 312.