The Life and Death of Mr Badman »

John Bunyan (1628–1688) was a writer and preacher. His works include Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, an autobiographical account of his conversion to Christianity, and The Pilgrim's Progress, arguably the most famous Christian allegory.

Published in 1680, two years after the The Pilgrim's Progress told the story of Pilgrim's journey to heaven, this companion piece describes the progress of the wicked Mr. Badman through the world to his death and damnation. Set out as a dialogue between two earnest gentlemen—Mr. Attentive and Mr. Wiseman—Bunyan's work is a colorful and dramatic discourse on the various vices of a bad man's life, offering fascinating insight into 17th-century Puritanism.

Times Literary Supplement

A dandy version . . . [It] has the virtue of containing all of the marginal glosses from the original edition. It also sports a brief and engaging foreword by James Fenton.