We who, like Fray Luis de Leon, did not know the Mother Teresa on this earth, and can only judge of her by her works, may well wonder what manner of woman was the Castilian nun, whom even Voltaire praised, who exercised such an influence over Ferdinand de Toledo, the stern Duke of Alba, and the gloomy Philip II, and has so stamped herself into Castilian life, that to this day her votaries sign themselves 'su amigo Teresiano' in writing to one another. . . . The attempt of the author has been to paint Teresa de Ahumada the woman--as well as Teresa de Jesus the saint--to show why it was that she, from nothing, and with nothing but her own energy, was able to rescue the whole Order of Carmelites from the condition of apathy into which it had fallen. . . . [H]er life was one long journey; but from its starting-place in the windswept wall-girt town of Avila, to her last jornada from the Arrapil to Alba, she discovered what all saints do not, a never-ending fund of worldly wisdom, mixed with a vein of mysticism, about which she herself was never sure. --from the Preface

"The Book of Her Life" is the spiritual autobiography of a Counter Reformation mystic and monastic reformer of sixteenth century Spain. Introduction by Jodi Bilinkoff.

The Colbeck collection was formed over half a century ago by the Bournemouth bookseller Norman Colbeck. Focusing primarily on British essayists and poets of the nineteenth century from the Romantic Movement through the Edwardian era, the collection features nearly 500 authors and lists over 13,000 works. Entries are alphabetically arranged by author with copious notes on the condition and binding of each copy. Nine appendices provide listings of selected periodicals, series publications, anthologies, yearbooks, and topical works.

This book contains Book of Her Foundations and Minor Works. Includes general and biblical index. In 1573, while staying in Salamanca to assist her nuns in the task of establishing one of her seventeen monasteries, Teresa began composing the story of their foundation. The Book of Her Foundations comprises the major portion of Volume Three. This book not only tells the story of the establishment of her monasteries but, characteristic of Teresa, digresses into counsels on prayer, love, melancholy, virtuous living and dying, plus other teachings of the Mother Foundress. This book also has an excellent introduction, chronology, and map of Teresa's foundations and journeys. Five of her brief works, including her poetry, complete ICS Publications' third volume of her Collected Works. Includes general and biblical index.