The Library
1780 works catalogued century by century, from the literature the Bible was written among to the present — each with a note on what it is, why it lasted, and where to read it.
1–100
1 work
c. 100
Greek
Anonymous
Michael is sent to tell Abraham he is dying and cannot bring himself to say it. Abraham stalls, asks for a tour of the world first, starts calling down fire on sinners, and has to be stopped — and at the judgement scene Abel weighs each soul on scales.
201–300
2 works
c. 210
Latin
De Anima
Tertullian · c. 155–c. 220
A long enquiry into what the soul is, where it comes from, and what happens to it at death, drawing on medicine, philosophy, dreams, and the testimony of a woman in his own congregation who saw souls.
252
Latin
De Mortalitate
Cyprian of Carthage · c. 210–258
Written during a plague that killed Christians and pagans alike, answering the complaint that the faithful were not being spared, and asking why people who say they long for heaven grieve at going there.
301–400
2 works
c. 350–373
Syriac
Carmina Nisibena
Ephrem the Syrian · c. 306 – 373
Seventy-seven hymns, the first written during three Persian sieges of Nisibin and the rest after the city was surrendered to Shapur and its Christians walked out. The later hymns stage a long dispute between Death and Satan over which of them has ruined more, each boasting and each finally beaten at the tomb.
c. 380
Greek
Gregory of Nyssa · c. 335–c. 395
A dialogue at his sister Macrina's deathbed, in which she takes the role Socrates played for Plato and argues him through grief to the resurrection and the final restoration of all things.
401–500
1 work
c. 400–500
Coptic
Anonymous
Jesus tells the apostles on the Mount of Olives how his foster father died at a hundred and eleven, afraid at the last, with Mary holding his feet and Jesus his hands, and Death waiting at the door until permitted to enter.
601–700
1 work
688
Latin
Prognosticon Futuri Saeculi
Julian of Toledo · c. 642–690
Three books on death, on the state of souls before the resurrection, and on the world to come, assembled from the fathers and arranged as answers to questions.
701–800
1 work
735
Latin
Cuthbert of Jarrow · 8th century
A pupil's account of Bede's last days, dictating a translation of John's gospel into English between fits of breathlessness and finishing the final sentence on the day he died.
901–1000
1 work
c. 998
Latin
Odilo of Cluny · c. 962–1049
An order that on the day after All Saints every Cluniac house shall offer prayers and alms for all the faithful departed without exception.
1101–1200
1 work
c. 1195
Latin
De Miseria Condicionis Humane
Lotario dei Segni · 1160/61–1216
An unrelenting catalogue of human wretchedness — birth, appetite, ambition, decay — written by a cardinal who promised a companion volume on human dignity and never wrote it.
1301–1400
2 works
c. 1340–1360
Middle English
Anonymous
Nine thousand lines on human wretchedness, death, purgatory, doomsday, and the pains of hell and joys of heaven, written for readers with no Latin.
c. 1400–1415
Latin
Ars Moriendi
Anonymous
How to die well: the five temptations that come at the end — doubt, despair, impatience, pride, avarice — each with the answer to be made, and the questions to put to the dying.
1401–1500
1 work
15th century
Latin
Anonymous
Instructions for priests attending the dying: what to ask, what to read aloud, how to prompt the acts of faith and contrition, and what to do when speech fails.
1601–1700
6 works
1606
Latin
Johann Gerhard · 1582–1637
Fifty-one short meditations on sin, grace, the sacraments, and death, written by a twenty-four-year-old who had nearly died of illness twice.
1624
English
John Donne · 1572–1631
Twenty-three meditations written during a near-fatal fever, tracking the illness stage by stage — including the bell tolling for a neighbour and no man being an island.
written c. 1609–1620; published 1633
English
John Donne · 1572–1631
Sonnets and hymns of argumentative, physical, and often desperate address to God — asking to be battered, and admitting he cannot repent without help.
preached 1615–1631; published 1640
English
John Donne · 1572–1631
One hundred and sixty sermons from St Paul's, on death, resurrection, and mercy, delivered by a former poet and courtier who had come late to orders.
1650
English
Richard Baxter · 1615–1691
Written while its author expected to die, on the heavenly rest and on the daily discipline of setting the mind on it deliberately.
1651
English
Jeremy Taylor · 1613–1667
How to prepare for death across a whole life rather than at the end of one, written after the deaths of his patron's wife and his own sons.
19 of 1780 works