Spurgeon's The Sword and the Trowel

[KevinE]

Hello all;
I was hoping to purchase copies of Spurgeon's magazine, and have learned that the Pilgrim's versions have been abridged. I know that the PDFs can be found, but I like the ease of reading a book as opposed to text on my phone or computer. Can i ask if anyone has found a good and trustworthy printer that they have purchased these from?

One of the reasons is that he magazine can magnify his thoughts, such as his ideas on the history of the Baptists.

Thanks all...

 

[KevinE]

"the"

 

[Pilgrim]

If you are referring to Pilgrim Publications of Pasadena, TX (now defunct, I believe, following the death of the owner and his son), Bob L. Ross, the owner, always stressed that they published unabridged editions of Spurgeon's works. I don't know about the Sword and the Trowel in particular, but I'd be surprised if they published anything that was abridged.

 

[Pilgrim]

OK I see that the Reformed Reader site says that "Seven volumes of the most important material from The Sword and the Trowel are available in quality paperback editions from Pilgrim Publications." And according to the Spurgeon Center at MBTS, "Up to this point, access to The Sword and the Trowel has been limited. Pilgrim Publications has helpfully provided a re-publication of the magazines, though this set is abridged, incomplete, and increasingly more difficult to find" in their announcement that they have made the originals available on their site. Based on the MBTS statement, it doesn't appear than anyone else has attempted to reprint them.

Evidently Bob L. Ross compiled material for that set rather than republishing the whole. But when it comes to books like "The Soulwinner" and others, the Pilgrim editions are unabridged. So, if I learned nothing else today, I learned that Pilgrim Publications published something by Spurgeon that was abridged.

 

[KevinE]

Thanks! I purchased one set, the 1865-1867 version, and I'll do a comparison to the actual Passmore/Alabaster versions to see what was removed. Happy to share the results.

 

[Pilgrim]

Thanks! I purchased one set, the 1865-1867 version, and I'll do a comparison to the actual Passmore/Alabaster versions to see what was removed. Happy to share the results.

I wonder if he thought that it would be too overwhelming to do the whole set or if maybe there wouldn't be the interest that there was in the sermons. And maybe some of the material in the magazine isn't as pertinent for today's reader although it would be of interest to researchers and completists.

 

[bookslover]

OK I see that the Reformed Reader site says that "Seven volumes of the most important material from The Sword and the Trowel are available in quality paperback editions from Pilgrim Publications." And according to the Spurgeon Center at MBTS, "Up to this point, access to The Sword and the Trowel has been limited. Pilgrim Publications has helpfully provided a re-publication of the magazines, though this set is abridged, incomplete, and increasingly more difficult to find" in their announcement that they have made the originals available on their site. Based on the MBTS statement, it doesn't appear than anyone else has attempted to reprint them.

Evidently Bob L. Ross compiled material for that set rather than republishing the whole. But when it comes to books like "The Soulwinner" and others, the Pilgrim editions are unabridged. So, if I learned nothing else today, I learned that Pilgrim Publications published something by Spurgeon that was abridged.

I wonder if they mean by the "set is abridged" that they don't have an entire print run. That is, if there were, for example, 10 issues (just to pick a number), that Ross had issues 2, 6, and 9 instead of all ten, instead of the actual contents of the texts themselves being abridged. Just a thought.

 

[SlowTrain]

Came across this.

The Sword and Trowel | Metropolitan Tabernacle

List of articles, sermons and books from Dr. Peter Masters, Pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London.

metropolitantabernacle.org

 

[Pilgrim]

I wonder if they mean by the "set is abridged" that they don't have an entire print run. That is, if there were, for example, 10 issues (just to pick a number), that Ross had issues 2, 6, and 9 instead of all ten, instead of the actual contents of the texts themselves being abridged. Just a thought.

Possibly. I can't remember for sure, but I think Ross got into publishing (or publishing Spurgeon) after he found an old set of the Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit somewhere and he decided to reprint. Reprinting that was the major project to be sure, but he reprinted hundreds of other titles as well. I exchanged a few messages with him about 15 years ago. He stressed that everything they printed was unabridged. I had found some errors and/or omissions in a cheap copy of a Spurgeon work published by a different publisher.

 

[Pilgrim]

Came across this.

The Sword and Trowel | Metropolitan Tabernacle

List of articles, sermons and books from Dr. Peter Masters, Pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London.

metropolitantabernacle.org

That's their current publication under the same title. I don't know if Dr. Masters revived it or if the church has continuously published a magazine under that title since Spurgeon's day.