The Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come, an allegorical novel, was published in 1678 after being written in 1675 while Bunyan was imprisoned for conducting unauthorised religious services outside of the Church of England. An expanded edition appeared in 1679, and the Second Part appeared in 1684. This work is regarded as one of the greatest classics of literature, and has been translated into more than 100 languages. It is divided into two parts, each of which reads as a continuous narrative, not being further divided into chapters.

John Bunyan was variously a tinker, soldier, Baptist minister, prisoner and writer of outstanding narrative genius which reached its apotheosis in this, his greatest work. It is an allegory of the Christian life of true brilliance and is presented as a dream which describes the pilgrimage of the hero - Christian - from the City of Destruction via the Slough of Despond, the Hill of Difficulty, the Valley of the Shadow of Death and Vanity Fair over the River of the Water of Life and into the Celestial City. The Pilgrim's Progress has been translated into 108 languages, was a favourite of Dr Johnson and was praised by Coleridge as one of the few books which might be read repeatedly and each time with a new and different pleasure.

Introduction

PART ONE

The Author's Apology for his Book

The Pilgrim's Progress in the Similitude of a Dream

The Conclusion

PART TWO

The Author's Way of Sending Forth his Second Part of the Pilgrim

The Pilgrim's Progress in the Similitude of a Dream