Barbed Arrows – C. H. Spurgeon – 1896 | Original Dust Jacket, Evangelical Classic

Charles Spurgeon was renowned for his skill in illustration and his deeply relational approach to preaching. Much of his effectiveness came from a disciplined habit of gathering notes, observations, and memorable insights that could be applied to Christian life, paired with an uncommon ability to connect everyday experiences to spiritual truth. The illustrations and sermon material collected in this volume, as in the earlier Feathers for Arrows, form a rich store of thoughtful, Scripture-shaped insights from which readers will benefit. Among the two companion works, Barbed Arrows is widely regarded as the more challenging volume to obtain. Barbed Arrows by C. H. Spurgeon is a late-Victorian devotional and illustrative anthology compiled from Spurgeon’s celebrated sermons, prepared during a period of illness and intended as a companion to Feathers for Arrows. This 1896 Christian Alliance Publishing edition presents a rich collection of anecdotes, metaphors, illustrations, and pastoral insights that Spurgeon used to sharpen the spiritual imagination of his congregation at the Metropolitan Tabernacle. Copies surviving in original dust jackets are uncommon, as such ephemeral wrappers were rarely preserved, making this example especially desirable to collectors of Spurgeon and Victorian religious literature.

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Barbed Arrows
• Author: Charles Haddon Spurgeon
• Publisher: The Christian Alliance Publishing Company, Harrisburg, Pa.; New York, N.Y. 1896
• Edition: 1896 Christian Alliance Edition
• Binding: Hardcover; original publisher’s cloth
  • Original Dust Jacket
• Format: Octavo (8vo), single volume
• Size: ~ 8 in x 5.5 in (20.5 cm x 13.5 cm)

• Collation: 277, [1] pp

• Contents Include:
  • Preface describing compilation from Metropolitan Tabernacle sermons
  • Illustrative anecdotes, metaphors, and sermon “arrows”
  • Companion material intended to complement Feathers for Arrows
• Provenance: Stamp of Joel F. Menges on top page edge and flyleaf.

Condition:

Very Good condition overall. The original cloth binding is secure with very mild rubbing spine ends and corners. Black stamped titling is clear and sharp. The hinges and text block are intact, if somewhat loose. Pages are clean with mild, uniform age-toning throughout, and some browning to the endpapers. The original dust jacket is in Good condition and shows expected chipping and small tears along the folds and edges, with some repairs done to extend its longevity.

Why Collect This?

• Original 1896 printing of a companion volume to Feathers for Arrows by Charles H. Spurgeon
• Represents late nineteenth-century evangelical preaching culture and pastoral training tools
• Retains the original dust jacket, an uncommon survival for religious books of this period
• Strong association with one of the most influential Protestant preachers of the modern era

Item Number: #31258