Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · English Edition
Centuries of Meditations
Annotated Edition · With an Introduction, Notes and an Outline.
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English Edition · Branch 13 of 454
Note on the Text · Part 2
Centuries of Meditations
p. 13The notes are this edition’s own, and they begin with Scripture, identifying quotations and echoes in the Authorised Version, and with the Prayer Book, whose words are everywhere in the prayers. They name the philosophers, Fathers and other writers Traherne quotes, answers or silently uses, and they call a likeness a likeness when it is not a proven source. They explain people, places and stories, gloss obsolete words and older senses, translate every Latin and Greek phrase, and say where the manuscript matters to a reader. They refer to the Key Words, and they never reveal what a later meditation says.
Socrates
Reading Centuries of Meditations · Note on the Text · Note on the Text · Part 2
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Thomas Traherne’s Centuries explore felicity, childhood vision, love, and the soul’s capacity to enjoy the world. This annotated English edition presents all 410 meditations across five Centuries, with an introduction, explanatory notes, an outline, and textual apparatus.
Historical Text
The Centuries survive in Traherne’s manuscript and were first published by Bertram Dobell in London in 1908. The supplied edition follows the corrected Dobell text, with manuscript readings documented in its Note on the Text and Textual Notes. The four complete Centuries contain one hundred meditations each; the unfinished Fifth contains ten.
About This Edition
Diotimos Editions prepared the introduction, explanatory notes, glossary, reading guide, outline, and textual apparatus for this English original. Century and meditation numbers preserve the work’s structure, while verse line breaks, italics, and struck-through manuscript cancellations remain visible. Notes accompany their passages in the reader and Book Mode.
Rights
Thomas Traherne’s historical text and Bertram Dobell’s 1908 printing are in the public domain. The introduction, notes, and apparatus are © 2026 Diotimos Editions. Historical printing and transcription links identify the edition’s copy-text; manuscript corrections and unresolved readings are documented in the supplied editorial apparatus.