Allen, Alexander V. G. Life and Letters of Phillips Brooks (3 volume set) With Portraits and Illustrations. New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, 1901. [12458]
Three volumes in maroon publisher's cloth, decorated in blind & gilt, all joints good, tight, 9 1/4 x 6 1/2 inches. Each volume with a different photogravure portrait of Brooks as frontispiece. [xviii]. 524; x, 542; x, 539 clean pp.; all top page edges gilt. Very good. Hardcover.
"When I began to write, I supposed that my task would be easier than I have found it. The study of the material convinced me that I was dealing with a character singularly complex despite its simplicity, a career wherein there were epochs and distinct phases of development. There was danger of doing injustice, or of failing to appreciate motives of action. The full meaning of events and deeds did not at once appear. Time was required before the insight was gained revealing the relative significance of what was obscure. It was necessary to search for further material, by correspondence and by personal interviews with those who could give the information desired. I had no theory of writing a biography when I began, and I have none as I close, except to allow the material to have its full weight upon the mind, to live as far as possible in the life of the man whom I was seeking to know, and to furnish to the reader what seemed interesting or important as throwing light upon his character and work." - Preface.
Phillips Brooks (1835-1889), b. & d. at Boston, Massachusetts. Brooks was educated at Harvard University and at the Episcopal Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia. As pastor of churches in Philadelphia, his dynamic preaching drew huge crowds. In 1869 he accepted an appointment to the Trinity Church in Boston. He published several volumes of sermons, and, as a hymn-writer, he is best known as the author of "O Little Town of Bethlehem." He was made the Episcopal Bishop of Massachusetts in 1891.
"His charismatic preaching became so renowned that he was invited in 1880 to preach at Westminster Abbey in London and at the Royal Chapel at Windsor before Queen Victoria. In 1890 he conducted an acclaimed series of services at Trinity Church, New York City." - Encyclopedia Britannica, online.
