A Silver Watch-Bell to Wake the Sleeping Soul’: A Bestselling Elizabethan Call to Repentance, in its Thirteenth Edition. [1619]

TYMME, Thomas  A Silver Watch-bell. The Sound whereof is able (by the Grace of God) to winne the most profane worldling, and careless Liver, (if there be but the least spark of Grace remaining in him) to become a true Christian indeed, that in the end he may obtain everlasting Salvation; Whereunto is adjoyned, A Treatise of the Holy Sacrament of The Lord’s Supper, in part augmented. The thirteenth edition.
.London: Printed for Clement Knight,, 1619

Octavo. [14], 288pp 150mm x 100mm. Original leather sometime rebacked. New endpapers. Title page is grubby and repaired at the lower outer corner not affecting text. Lacks initial blank, A8 closed tear, lacks 1 leaf E7, chip out of corner L3 not affecting text chip out of S4 NAT. Pages towards end are dusty and grubby in the margins from wear. First published in 1605. This is the 13th edition. Thomas Tymme (also spelled Timme) was an English clergyman and author who lived during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. While not as widely known as some of his contemporaries, Tymme made notable contributions to literature and theology.

First issued in 1605 and reprinted continually throughout the early seventeenth century, A Silver Watch-bell was one of the most popular devotional manuals of post-Reformation England — a fervent call to spiritual awakening addressed to what its author calls the “profane worldling and careless liver.” Framed as an alarm to rouse the sleeping conscience, the work urges repentance, self-examination, and sincere conversion, promising that even the faintest “spark of Grace” may yet be kindled into saving faith.

Written in an urgent and accessible style, the book reflects the practical piety of early English Protestantism, blending moral exhortation with pastoral consolation. Appended here is Tymme’s treatise on the Holy Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, enlarged in later editions to guide communicants in worthy preparation and reverent participation.

By the time of this thirteenth edition (1619), the Watch-bell had become a minor devotional classic, circulating widely among lay readers as a handbook of everyday godliness. Its sustained popularity testifies to the hunger for practical spiritual literature in the decades following the Elizabethan Settlement. Preserved in its original leather binding and bearing the marks of heavy devotional use, this copy is a vivid survival of the lived religion of early Stuart England.

Thomas Tymme (also spelled Timme) was an English clergyman, translator, and devotional writer active in the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean Church. Though not among the great controversialists of his age, Tymme played a significant role in shaping English Protestant spirituality through translation and practical religious writing.

He is best known for his English translation of Heinrich Bullinger’s influential Decades, a foundational collection of Reformed sermons widely used for clerical instruction and lay edification. Through this work, Tymme helped transmit continental Reformed theology into the heart of English religious life.

Alongside his scholarly labours, Tymme wrote popular devotional manuals, of which A Silver Watch-bell was his greatest success. First published in 1605, it went through numerous editions over several decades, becoming a staple of Protestant household reading. His writings reflect the pastoral priorities of the period: conversion, repentance, sacramental preparation, and the cultivation of daily godliness. Tymme stands as a representative figure of the industrious Elizabethan clergy whose works quietly shaped the conscience and devotional habits of early modern England.