The Pilgrim'S Progress

About the Book

The Pilgrim's Progress, a Christian allegory written by John Bunyan, is widely regarded as one of the most significant works of religious English literature. It has been translated into more than 200 languages, and has never gone out of print.

Bunyan began writing this work while he was serving his term (1660-1672) in the Bedfordshire county prison for violations of the Conventicle Act, which prohibited the holding of religious services outside the auspices of the established Church of England. The book was published in 1678 and is divided into two parts, each reading as a continuous narrative with no divisions into chapters. The first part was completed in 1677 and entered into the Stationers' Register on 22 December 1677. It was licensed and entered in the "Term Catalogue" on 18 February 1678, which is taken as the date of first publication. After the first edition of the first part in 1678, an expanded edition with additions by Bunyan appeared in 1679. The second part appeared in 1684. There were eleven editions of the first part during Bunyan's lifetime, published in successive years from 1678 to 1685 and in 1688. There were two editions of the second part, published in 1684 and 1686.

The Pilgrim's Progress got immediate success and it became one of the most published books in the English language. By 1692, four years after Bunyan's death, publisher Charles Doe estimated that 1,00,000 copies had been printed in England, as well as editions "in France, Holland, New England and Welch". By 1938, 250 years after Bunyan's death, more than 1,300 editions of the book had been printed.