RELIGION

Anti-Superstition, Wherever it Might Lurk — Great ProvenanceLurking Here

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•  First edition: History and rationalist refutation of idolatry, including divination, demonology, astrology, exorcism, sorcery, prophecy, etc. — in Judaism as well as in Zoroastrianism and pagan religions. Born in Haarlem, van Dale (a.k.a. Anton van Dalen, 1638–1708) was a physician, Mennonite preacher, and classicist; his efforts to dismiss the influence of the Devil and indeed the existence of virtually all things miraculous, angelic, or supernatural led to the placing of this work (along with his treatise discrediting the ancient oracles) on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum in 1737.

This volume is also of interest typographically; some of the Greek, Syriac, and Arabic types subsequently used in productions by Hendrik Wetstein and others make their first appearances here. The text is predominantly in Latin, with quotations in Hebrew and the above languages. The title-page is printed in black and red.

Provenance:  Front pastedown with inked inscriptions of the Rev. A.W. Miller of Charlotte, N.C., dated 1871, and of H. Ader of Assumption Hills, dated [18]92; front free endpaper with early inked inscription of Henry Joseph Thomas Drury. Drury was a master at Harrow School (where he taught Byron), and an original member of the Roxburghe Club. His inscription notes the book's passage from the Bibliotheca Heathiana “thro' Dr. Raine's hands, and Cuthell's to mine”; Drury's mother was Louisa Heath, daughter of the great collector Benjamin Heath, but most of Heath's library had originally gone either to his two sons or to auction following the death of his wife.

•  Rosenthal, Bibliotheca magica et pneumatica, 1614. Not in Caillet, Manuel bibliographique des sciences psychiques ou occultes; not in Coumont, Demonology & Witchcraft.   Contemporary speckled calf framed and panelled in blind with blind-tooled corner fleurons, inner edges of covers ruled in gilt double fillets, neatly rebacked; spine with gilt-stamped title, gilt-stamped raised bands, and blind-tooled compartment decorations; original leather with edges abraded, corners repaired. Hinges (inside) reinforced some time ago. Lower (closed) edges institutionally blind-stamped. Front pastedown and free endpaper with inscriptions as above, title-page with small ownership inscription in upper portion. Pages age-toned with small amounts of light foxing. Nice margins, all edges (once) saffron.  (25848)

Radical Baptist Would-Be Regicide??

•  First edition of this controversial pamphlet arguing against the titular rite, written by a radical, rebellious Baptist preacher (also known as Henry D'Anvers) suspected of involvement in a conspiracy to assassinate Charles II. Numerous rebuttals and responses were published. Click the image for an enlargement.

Uncommon: OCLC, ESTC, and NUC Pre-1956 find only seven U.S. holdings; Wing adds one more.

•  ESTC R8336; Wing (2nd ed.) D236. On Danvers, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   Recent marbled paper wrappers. Pages browned; first and last few leaves with edge chips. Pagination 15/16 skipped, signatures however correct and text uninterrupted.  (24981)

Christian ConsolationsSpiritually Endorsed

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•  English translation of Charles Drelincourt's Consolations de l’âme fidèle, with the intriguing “True Relation of the Apparition of One Mrs. Veal.” First published in 1705, Daniel Defoe's convincingly matter-of-fact account of Margaret Veal's ghostly visit to an old friend went through numerous editions; it appears here as the stated eighteenth, serving (as did most later printings) as a preface to the Christian’s Defence against the Fears of Death. Legend has it that Defoe's retelling of a ghost story then in circulation was meant as a boost for flagging sales of an edition of the Defence, although current scholarship is skeptical of that tale. Drelincourt's pious work sold quite well both before and after Defoe's addition, at any rate, and was often recommended as a gift for mourners.

This example particularly showcases the “True Relation,” as the separate title-page for that item is the first leaf present here; the title-page and preface for the Defence are absent.

•  ESTC T189434; Lowndes 616–17; Allibone 490.   Recent quarter mottled calf and marbled paper–covered sides, leather edges blind-tooled, spine with gilt-stamped leather labels, gilt-dotted raised bands, and gilt-stamped decorations in compartments. First three pages institutionally pressure-stamped, lower (closed) edges rubber-stamped; title-page with inked and rubber-stamped numerals in lower margin. Frontispiece, main title-page, preface to Christian's Defence, and final leaf lacking (the last interrupting the text of a brief account of Drelincourt's life). Title-page stained with inner margin reinforced and tear repaired some time ago. Pages browned, foxed, and stained, first and last few with edges tattered; some corners dog-eared. Two leaves torn, without loss of text; one leaf with outer margin chipped, affecting four words without loss of sense. A book often “read to death” . . .  (25807)

Representing the Farmer's Weekly Museum — 1796

[Dennie, Joseph].

•  First collected edition of these pieces, most of which originally appeared in the Farmer's Weekly Museum, "a rural paper of Newhampshire" per Dennie and "one of the best New England papers of its day" according to the DAB. The author, who quickly abandoned a mediocre legal career but enjoyed an extended stint as one of the fashionable literati of the time, produced a fair number of Federalist writings; his bent towards political commentary is partially but not wholly submerged in these short, often humorous religious exhortations. A good example is the essay on the text "Little children, keep yourselves from idols," which tarries briefly with the topic of women's fascination with the looking-glass before moving on to the more exciting "Green Draggons of sedition," which are responsible for encouraging Americans to "forget Washington. . . your first love" and to dabble in "scribbling saucy toasts, and vamping rash resolves against the treaties and laws of your land" (p. 37).

Provenance:  Front fly-leaf is inscribed "P Doddridge to his sister Harriett" in an early hand. There is a Doddridge County in New Hampshire, but who "P" and "Harriett" were, we cannot say.

•  ESTC W20627; BAL 4633; Evans 30335; Sabin 19585. On Dennie, see: Dictionary of American Biography, V, 235–37. Contemporary mottled sheep rebacked with plain cloth, abraded (most notably over edges and corners); hinges taped (inside) some time ago. Some offsetting and a few scattered light spots; one page with portion of text insufficiently inked during printing. Chip out of one page margin, just touching but not obscuring outermost letters. (4706)

Bodoni Printing: Texts of the Hebrew Old Testament

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•  First edition of an important collection of variant readings of the Old Testament, assembled by an Italian Christian Hebraist who taught Oriental languages at the University of Parma. This gathering of Massoretic manuscripts was printed by Bodoni in Latin and Hebrew, in double columns. The first four books close with Specimen ineditae et hexaplaris Bibliorum versionis Syro-Estranghelae cum Simplici atque utriusque fontibus Graeco et Hebraeo collatae cum duplici lat. vers. ac notis, and the final volume adds the Scholia critica in V.T. libros seu supplementa ad varias sacri textus lectiones.

Provenance:  Front pastedown with bookplate of the Rev. Dr. Samuel Farmar Jarvis, historian and author of A Discourse on the Religion of the Indian Tribes of North America, The Colonies of Heaven, and A Chronological Introduction to the History of the Church.

•  Brooks, Compendiosa Bibliografia di Edizioni Bodoniane, 279; Steinschneider, Catalogus hebraeorum in Bibliotheca Bodleiana, 2152.   Binding on vols. I–IV: Contemporary calf, covers framed and panelled in blind rolls with original leather cracked, chipping, and darkened (III–IV especially severely); rebacked, spines with gilt-stamped title, gilt-dotted raised bands, and gilt-stamped compartment decorations. Hinges (inside) reinforced. Binding on the Scholia:  Recent, full period-style calf framed and panelled in blind rolls; spine with gilt-stamped title, gilt-dotted raised bands, and gilt-stamped compartment decorations. All title-pages with very old institutional rubber-stamps; early portions of vol. I with lightly pencilled annotations and bracketing, and vol. II with small pencilled marks of emphasis. Old soft corner creases or mild cockling variously throughout to vols. I–IV and, where these things (or a natural paper flaw) are most notable, a grey soil has entered at the loose or open places to mark the margins at their edges.  Otherwise, scattered light foxing, golden, not brown; and the occasional old spill (e.g., I Samuel) or smudge only.   Not “fresh” — but substantial, impressive, and with its lovely typography still lovely.  (25513)

Descartes Illustrated

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•  The Opera philosophica brings together disparate writings by Descartes and prints each with its own title-page and pagination. The parts are: 1. Meditationes de prima philosophica; seven illustrative plates for this are bound at the end of the volume — one lacking). 2. Principia Philosophiae. 3. Specimina philosophiae seu Dissertatio de methodo Recte regentae rationes, & veritatis in scientiis investigandae Dioptrice et Meteora; illustrative plate inserted at end of volume. 4. Passiones Animae. 5. Tractatus de Homine et de Formatione Foetus Quorum prior Notis perpetuis Ludovici de La Forge, M.D. illustratur.

One of two issues of this edition, this being the issue illustrated with seven folding plates, in addition to the many, many in-text woodcut illustrations, some nearly full-page.

•  VD17 1:620459Z.   Contemporary stiff vellum. Ex-library with call number on spine and bookplate, but no other markings. A very good copy.  (14709)

Apparently asRARE as It Is Obscure

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•  Not listed in ESTC or NUC Pre-1956; may originally have been bound with another item. Whatever this is, it has not been digitized in a place where we can find it.

•  Marbled boards. Ex–defunct library: library label and blind-stamp on front cover; title-page and one other stamped. Text of hymn appears to be complete, although signature A is lacking and pagination begins at 9 (title-page present). First four leaves with waterstaining at bottom and outer margins, fading thereafter.

Who Wrote the Book of Mormon?

•  First edition. An exposé related to the Rev. Solomon Spaulding, whose “The Manuscript Found” is claimed by some to be the source of the Book of Mormon. With an introduction by Thurlow Reed. Publisher's catalogue in the back.

Beyond matters of authorship, there is quite a lot of general Mormon history here, including a good deal on polygamy; the perspective is not friendly.

Provenance:  From the libraries of the Rev. C. C. Bitting and Crozer Theological Seminary.

•  Flake & Draper 2832.   Publisher's green cloth, spine chipped at head and foot. Title-page separated from binding, but present; shallow chipping along edges. Short closed tears to top edge of pp. 29–32 and 103–106 and outer edge of one page chipped; several page corners chipped/creased. Ex-library with bookplate, card and pocket, pressure-stamp on title-page, inked numeral, penciled notation, two rubber-stamps. A few penciled check-marks.  (24434)

From Aberdeen'sFIRST PRINTER

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•  First edition of this work and an early Aberdeen imprint, the press not having arrived there until 1622, more than 100 years after it was established in Edinburgh. Raban, the printer here, was the first printer to work in Aberdeen. He is thought to have been a native of Gloucester and it is hypothesized that after serving as a soldier in the Low Countries, he learned the printing art there. Researchers are struck by the similarities between his type, devices, and ornaments and those of the Pilgrim Press in Leyden. Here, the title-page has a border made up of small type ornaments and incorporates a handsome larger ornament above the imprint; the text is graced with a variety of headpieces that are also ornament-composed, plus two tailpieces and one nice initial “W.”

Dickson (1583?–1663) was a Scottish divine who had a trouble-tossed career but who eventually settled into a pattern of living that suited him. He authored a number of works on several of the books of the Bible; this one was reprinted at Dublin in 1637 and Cambridge in 1649.

Uncommon: ESTC locates only six copies in the U.S. and of those only three are verified.

•  STC (2nd ed.) 6824; ESTC S109676.   Contemporary sheep rebacked with library cloth tape (!). Ex-library with bookplate and 19th-century library rubber-stamps (including one on title-page); blind pressure-stamp on title as well. Title-page soiled. Text age-toned slightly.  (17341)

Eccentric Non-JurorTakes on Bishop

•  Henry Dodwell was a non-juring lay theologian noted as much for his eccentric theories as for his profound learning. He published a number of learned and lengthy theological works, and this short work is a defense of his theology against the criticism of the bishop of Salisbury, in particular Dodwell's holding that the soul was not naturally immortal. The peculiarities of his thought, as in this case, caused much embarrassment to his non-juring friends, and the bishop's remonstrance would have had their sympathy.

This Letter was printed twice in 1712, this second time with the bishop's response and Dodwell's reply to that reply; it is rare. A search of NUC Pre-1956, OCLC and RLIN revealed no copies, and the ESTC lists but four copies of the first edition and six copies of the second edition, all in Great Britain.

•  ESTC T178115. On Dodwell, see The Dictionary of National Biography, XV, 179–81. Removed from a nonce volume; without wrappers. A little light soiling in the top margins and a few spots of light foxing; rubber-stamps from a now-defunct library, including one on the title-page.

A GORGEOUSBRIGHT RED COVER

•  Early edition of this popular collection of proverbs, originally printed in 1850 and here in a highly decorated binding. There are also several parables, and at the end are apocalyptic dreams. The “proverbs” are pithy preachings of the author. Click the image to the right
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Binding: Publisher’s red morocco, covers framed in gilt rolls, front cover with gilt-stamped angel vignette and title, back cover with gilt-stamped urn, spine gilt extra.

•  Binding as above, edges and extremities rubbed with cloth chipping over spine head, spine somewhat darkened and with gilt dimmed. Pages gently age-toned, with a few lightly foxed; first few leaves loosening.

Eleutheropoli?

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•  False imprint edition of Du Moulin's study of the episcopacy of the Church of England which dissects Joseph Hall's Episcopacy by Divine Right (1640). The final four leaves contains Omissa suo loco reponenda.”

A work of considerable significance for English canon law. There was another edition in 1641, without any place of printing specified, in 8vo format, and having 122 pages.

•  Removed from a nonce volume, semicircular area torn from lower portion of the title-page costing two letters of the imprint. Old ownership inscriptions on title-page. Library stamps in lower margin of last page.  (21014)

Creationist Guide to the Natural World — A Pretty 4-Volume Set

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•  First U.S. edition of this widely read contemplation of of natural theology, here with “important additions and some modifications to adapt it to American readers,” done by the Rev. Frances William Pitt Greenwood. The work, which was endorsed by the Massachusetts Board of Education, was praised by Edgar Allan Poe as a “well-arranged and well-digested compendium, embracing a vast amount of information upon the various topics of physical science, and especially well adapted to those educational purposes for which the volumes are designed” (Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, March 1840). The practical sciences of agriculture, husbandry, and manufacture have their places here along with much on the physical and biological worlds as such.

Bindings: Publisher's half green morocco and marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped title and decorations; very attractive.

•  American Imprints 55446.   Spines slightly darkened; lightly rubbed. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplates, call number on endpapers, no other markings. A clean, sound handsome set.  (27171)

ADumfries-shire Production — Here for New Yorkers

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•  Early edition. “The following narratives were written chiefly by a society of clergymen in Dumfries-shire, in imitation of those excellent productions, the Moral tales of Hannah More.”

Binding:  Publisher's charcoal-colored ribbed cloth, front and rear covers blind-embossed with “Carter's Cabinet Library First Series” in a cartouche, and spine elaborately stamped in gilt. Small piece of cloth absent from top of spine.

Nicely done up, with several plates including a rather seductive one of “Mary Wilson.”

•  Binding as above. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. Spotting and discoloration in margins of early and late pages; occasional foxing. With that, still, a rather nice copy in a good example of this handsome and delicate American binding.  (26508)

Eck on the Blood Libel

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•  Eck (1486–1543) was a forceful and often convincing voice for Catholicism during the first quarter century of the Reformation, and he was, specifically, Luther's “most indefatigable and important opponent” (Encyclopaedia Britannica). Here he weighs in on the always hot-button topic of the supposed Jewish practice of ritual murder, also known as the blood accusation or the blood libel. His position was retrograde, and his powers of rhetoric significantly contributed to ongoing anti-semitism.

The text is printed in gothic with side- and shouldernotes, and the title-page has a woodcut of the arms of the Bishop of Trent.

WorldCat locates only three copies in the U.S. and COPAC only three in the U.K.

•  VD16 E383; Graesse, II, 460; Metzler, Eck, 93/1; Wiedemann 76.   Deep walnut full calf old style: Round spine with raised bands, accented with gilt beading, gilt center devices in compartments; red leather spine label; fillets extending onto covers from each band to terminate in trefoils and covers framed in blind double fillets. Some early inner margins reinforced. Stray stains on some pages, beyond “light” on only one. A rather good copy.  (26819)

WillEck & Zwingli Square Off?

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•  “First edition of three public letters by Johann Eck, attacking the Swiss Reformation movement. Eck in particular sought to convince Zwingli to join him in a public disputation, comparable to the one he had had with Karlstadt a decade earlier in Leipzig, an attempt which remained unanswered by Zwingli” (Emory University cataloger's annotation).

Schrodt and Vogelstein offer a different summary: “The letters refer to an invitation sent to Eck by Zwingli, Haller and Kolbe, all of them evangelical preachers, to participate in a religious disputation scheduled to take place in Bern. The first letter, addressed to the confederation, explains courteously enough that he, Eck, does not intend to follow the call of the three proven heretics individually, a call not issued by the civic authorities. Not that he is afraid of their arguments; but he insists on an authoritative invitation and presence.

The other letters are framed in very aggressive and personally offensive language but carry the same message. Eck challenges the evangelical disputants to appear with him before any of the Catholic potentates, spiritual or secular, or any of the great (Catholic) universities, and he would shatter their heretical arguments.”

This pamphlet is type-signed, “Johan. Eck. inquisitor.”

WorldCat locatesonly one copy in North America and one in Great Britain; COPAC locates an additional one in Britain.

•  VD16 E422; Kuczynski 650; Hohenemser 3352; Pegg, Swiss Libraries, 1496; Schrodt & Vogelstein 64.   Removed from a nonce volume. Spine with a reinforcing strip of 19th-century German scrap paper. Title lightly dust-soiled and evidence of old erased pencilling. A clean, good copy.  (25964)

Verses for Morning & Evening
    forGerman Americans

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•  Prayers and contemplations printed for a Pennsylvania German audience and prefaced by recommendations from ministers of the Lutheran church and the Reformed Synod. The volume is divided into four parts, each with its own sectional title. Gott ist die reinste Liebe was first published in 1791, as a Catholic devotional; Eckartshausen's later mystical works were enthusiastically received by such groups as alchemists, Rosicrucians, and followers of Aleister Crowley.

Provenance:  Front free endpaper with ownership inscription by Henry Binkly, dated 1833; several laid-in slips of paper include a recipe for hair dye and a concoction involving sulphur, sugar of lead, and bay rum.

•  Shoemaker 8591; First Century of German Language Printing in the U.S., 2565. Contemporary sheep framed in blind, spine with blind-ruled raised bands, abraded but solid. One clasp lacking, one present and working. Moderate foxing; one sectional title with pencilled annotations. Clearly a volume that saw both use and reasonable care. Plain, and pleasing.

Culture & Commerce CONNECTED — 1846

•  Very uncommon sole edition: Cultural dominance is here proposed as a means of improving British commerce with India and China. The author suggests that the joys of Christianity and English literature will enable merchants to pursue free trade without military assistance, apparently with the goal of persuading the reader that missionary societies promoting English-language printing operations should be supported with financial contributions.

•  NSTC 2L4183; not in Goldsmiths'-Kress. Removed from a nonce volume and now in a Mylar folder. Pages clean. (10991)

The Title Says It All

Our Indian empire: Its beginning and end.

•  First edition. An interesting political and social review, with much on “Christian duty.”

•  NSTC 2E4979.   Removed from a nonce volume.  (11085)

Missions aroundthe World, Illustrated

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•  First U.S. edition, “prepared upon the basis of a volume published in London, in 1828, by Mr. Charles Williams” (p. ix). The 1828 Missionary Gazetteer incorporated material from an American work compiled by the Rev. Walter Chapin, almost all of which has been excised and replaced with new descriptions for the present work according to Edwards. The reports are organized alphabetically by city, and describe the establishment of schools, successes and challenges of conversion, and native habits before and after the arrival of missionaries among the Chinese, Africans, Indians, Native Americans, etc.

The volume is illustrated with a total of25 wood-engraved plates and a wood-engraved title-page vignette depicting architectural views, native dress, dwellings, and religious sites.

•  American Imprints 12263; Sabin 21891.   Late 19th-century half roan with marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped title; edges and extremities showing moderate shelf wear (refurbished) . Front pastedown with old seminary bookplate, frontispiece and title-page with faded rubber-stamps of the same, one preliminary leaf with inked numeral in lower margin. Most plates with offsetting, pages with scattered light spotting; otherwise clean and unmarked. In fact, a nice copy of an interesting missionary and in part ethnographical work.  (25507)

Analyzing Baptist Logic

•  First U.S. edition, following the London first of 1795, of an oft-printed, much-debated refutation of Abraham Booth's Paedo-baptism Examined. The author was for some years the pastor of a Baptist church before having a dramatic change of heart regarding infant baptism; Allibone says that with the present treatise, he “produced an argument of unusual power and conclusiveness. It cannot be overcome, and all attempts hitherto employed to set it aside have been feeble.” The work includes substantial sections on female communion. Click the interior image for an enlargement.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 2175; Allibone 547.   Period-style quarter tan cloth and light blue paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label. Last page institutionally pressure-stamped; title-page with traces of paper adhesions to inner margin. Uncut copy; pages lightly age-toned, with a bit of soiling and light to moderate spotting.  (25830)

A Proto-UNITARIAN Reaction to the “Awakening”

•  In May of 1743 the Convention of Ministers, consisting of the "Pastors of the Churches of Christ in the provinces of Massachusetts-Bay," met to reaffirm the establishment Protestant religion and denounce the Great Awakening. On the occasion of this meeting their moderator, the Rev. Nathanael Eells, Congregationalist minister and pastor of the Second Church in Scituate, preached this sermon—which includes the significant phrase, "the one only living and true God; who is one in Essence, and three in Relations" (p. 8). This formulation in reaction to the Great Awakening characterizes the beginning of the Unitarian movement in the U.S., a movement which now seems very far indeed from anything this preacher would have foreseen. A fascinating item in the history of religious thought.

•  Evans 5173; Sabin 22006. Recent cloth-covered boards; a red leather spine label, gilt double ruled above and below with gilt lettering. 19th-century library rubber-stamps on verso of title leaf and bottom of p. 43. Light waterstain on title-page, occasional other light stains, overall remarkably clean. A nice, neat book.

Contemporary Account of theBattle of Avarayr

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•  First English-language edition, translated from the Armenian by Karl Friedrich Neumann, with extensive footnotes. The work is here attributed to “Elisæus, bishop of the Amadunians,” a.k.a. Saint Eghishe Vardapet (d. 480), one of the fathers of the Armenian Church. Eghishe had served as secretary to General Vartan prior to the great battle in 451 in which the Persians attempted to forcibly reconvert the Armenians from Christianity to Mazdeism, a battle which ended in Vartan's death but is remembered as one of the defining moments of Armenian history.

•  Graesse 467; NSTC 2E6790.   Period-style quarter brown cloth with light blue paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label. Intermittent small pencilled marks of emphasis, pages otherwise clean. All edges stained red.  (24872)

GOOD “Traditional” AMERICAN History

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•  First edition of this substantial history; Puritan beginnings, Indian relations and captivities, slavery/abolition, various rebellions, trade developments, and more are all covered in lively prose and with “story”-like detail. Each volume opens with a mezzotint portrait.

•  Sabin 22260.   Publisher's brown cloth, covers framed in blind, spines with gilt-stamped title and banner motif; lightly worn and moreso at corners, spines each with relatively unobtrusive strip of cloth tape at head. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplates, front free endpapers excised, rubber-stamp on title-pages and a few others, no other markings.  (26890)

Emmons, Nathanael. A discourse delivered, July 5, 1802, in commemoration of American Independence. Wrentham: Pr. by Nathaniel Heaton, jun., 1802. 8vo. 14 pp.
$30.00

•  Pro-Federalist, anti-Republican: Detailed and impassioned.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 2186. Removed from a volume of pamphlets. Age-toning.

Emmons, Nathanael. A discourse, delivered on the annual fast in Massachusetts, April 9, 1801. Hartford: Re-pr. by Hudson & Goodwin, 1801. 8vo. 23 pp.
$22.50

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 449. Removed from a volume of pamphlets. Some dampstaining, especially noticeable on title-page.

Emmons, Nathanael. The giver more blessed than the receiver. A discourse, addressed to the congregation in Franklin. Boston: Pr. by Lincoln & Edmands, 1809. 8vo. 24 pp.
$22.50

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 17449. Removed from a volume of pamphlets. Dampstained copy.

BIBLIOGRAPHICALLY Interesting, Too

•  A parliamentary action on ordination: The ordinance sparked some controversy immediately and there was at least one immediate publication that examined its import.

Bibliographically interesting. Wing records four different issues of this ordinance, the telling points being on the title-page: the spelling of “classical” or “classicall” and the form of the date, whether “12 Novemb., 1645,” or just “1645" and combinations thereof. ESTC fails to distinguish them.

•  Wing (rev. ed.) E1894A; ESTC R176130.   Removed from a nonce volume and dusty; in modern wrappers. All edges a bit chipped and lower margins of leaves A2 and A3 with loss of blank paper. All leaves age-toned.  (20454)

“ We Are Now Got through this Heap of Scandal ”

(England — Politics & Religion).

•  First edition of this entry in a protracted debate: An anonymous letter (generally attributed to William Stephens), written in response to John Toland’s Memorial, is here dissected, with extensive quotations provided from the letter. Among other questions raised regarding the contemporary state of politics is whether religious tolerance should be extended to all regardless of political dominance, or only to those who themselves advocated it while in power.

•  ESTC N3245. Recent, slate-grey light boards. Title-page with numeric stamp and with number inked in lower margin by an early hand. Edges untrimmed; some light staining.

An Early U.S. BCP AND A
“Book Studies” Teaching Tool

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•  A bibliographical oddity in the form of an early printing of the U.S. Book of Common Prayer: The title-page of the Book of Common Prayer has the imprint of W. Young and J. Ormrod and the date of 1795, but the sectional title for the Whole Book of Psalms has the imprint “Whitehall: Printed by William Young, bookseller & stationer, S. 2d-Street, Philadelphia, 1801.” That title-page is leaf Ee6, is not a cancel, and so is integral to the last signature of the Book of Common Prayer.

An examination of the paper used suggests that some gatherings of the BCP are remaindered from the 1795 printing and that the bulk of the “edition” is a close 1805 reprinting on wove paper.

•  Evans 29363; Griffiths, Book of Common Prayer, 1795/12. Not in Shaw & Shoemaker.   Recent full calf, old style, by Grace Bindings (signed “G.B.” on lower turn-in of inside back cover), with gilt tooling on covers and spine, raised bands on spine, green title-label. Title-page browned around the edges. Scattered foxing and a few stray stains.  (20606)

Whoa! Hold on There! Just One Darn Minute!

•  The bishops and archbishops acknowledge that there are there are “evils,” and “distractions” that need attention, and that lawfully called assemblies can properly address such issues, and that it is the king's prerogative to call such assemblies. There is a big HOWEVER, however. They contend that the named assembly meeting in Glasgow was illegal and present their arguments. Click the image for an enlargement.

This work appeared with three different title-pages and there are even internal differences. In this copy the setting of quire B has line B3v with “Deliberations” spelled with the capital letter “D.”

• STC (rev ed.) 22058; ESTC S116980.   Removed from a nonce volume and in modern wrappers. First and last pages dust-soiled; tea (?) stain to last leaf. Ex-library with the not unattractive stamp of the Union Theological Seminary on the verso of the title and in the bottom margin of the last text page. Blank area of foremargin of B4 torn with loss. In modern wrappers. (21000)

Two Tracts onPEACE

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•  Erasmus's Querela pacis and Antipolemus in English translations done by Vicesimus Knox, the first work here in its first edition thus and the latter in its second. The Querela pacis was originally published in 1517 upon the failure of the “Congress of Kings” to preserve peace throughout Europe; the other piece is a translation of the author's Bellum, extracted from his Adagia. Together, the works assert “that reasonable creatures ought always to be coerced when they err, by the force of reason, the motives of religion, the operation of law, and not by engines of destruction” (p. xliii), as the translator puts it in his preface to the second piece. Knox was an educator, minister, and author (known as the editor of Elegant Extracts) who steadfastly opposed British military involvement in the French Revolution.

•  ESTC N31610. On Knox, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online. Contemporary treed sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and board edges gilt; binding rubbed, irregularly darkened, and chipped, with front joint open (sewing presently holding) and back joint starting. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, inked call number on endpapers, title-page pressure-stamped. No other markings. Collation matches ESTC's description. Varying degrees of foxing/browning, with most leaves unaffected or only a little so. All edges saffron.  (26377)

FOUR Important Works in ONE Volume
    NEATLY Printed by Johann Maire

•  Desiderius Erasmus (1469–1536) was a remarkable "Renaissance Man," being an avid student of Classical languages (he was one of the first scholars to learn Greek as well as Latin), politics, religion, and philosophy. This book offers four of his works in one volume, with two short epistolary treatises as an appendix to the last of them; the great philosophical essays defend Christianity from the stupidity of humankind.

The book begins with Lingua ("On Language"), wherein Erasmus complains that humans abuse their gift of language and twist it to make a mockery of God's world and word. This is followed by the Principis Christiani Institvtio ("The Christian Education of a Prince"), directed primarily at the young Emperor Charles V Hapsburg, instructing him in, among other things, the benefits of passivism. This is considered to be one of the greatest contributions to the genre of the education of a Christian prince. The Querela Pacis ("Complaint of Peace"), next, was written in 1517 when the "Congress of Kings" met, hoping to preserve peace throughout Europe during a period of religious and social strife. Here Erasmus pleads for toleration, in some ways (but definitely not others) foreshadowing modern concepts of multiculturalism and diversity.

The volume's final work is the famous "Praise of Folly," which Erasmus claims he wrote on a journey from Italy to England while thinking about his friend Thomas More (hence the pun More -> moriæ). Here Folly, personified as a woman (of course), speaks in her own defence, pointing out the merits of the un-Christian practices of the day. That is followed by two of Erasmus's letters: "De Ratione Studii," intended for Petrus Viterius, and "De Instituendi," intended for Erasmus's students.

All works are given in the original Latin, annotated, and followed by full indices. The resulting thick little volume is a pleasing one—Maire printed it nicely—and this copy is an exceptionally crisp and clean exemplar.

•  On Erasmus, see: Hutchinson Encyclopedia of the Renaissance, 145–47. Full vellum with yapp edges. Round spine with author and title handwritten at top in sepia ink; yellow head- and tailbands well preserved. Tiny initials ink on front fly-leaf. Very little foxing. Overall, excellent.

German-AmericanHymnal
in Typical FRAKTUR Style — with Working Clasps!

• German Lutheran hymnal for use in Pennsylvania and surrounding states. This Billmeyer edition, preceded by a frontispiece portrait of Martin Lutherwhich differs from that below (look at the windows), is printed in two columns in fraktur type; it contains the texts of the hymns only, no music. The work was first published in 1786, with a number of subsequent editions. Helmuth's Kurze Andachten, a short collection of morning, evening, and other occasional prayers, was issued with this edition of the hymnal and is usually, as here, bound in at the end. Click the images for enlargements.

•  Hymnal: Shaw & Shoemaker 31426; Arndt, The First Century of German Language Printing in the United States of America, 2032. Kurze Andachten: Shaw & Shoemaker 31686; Arndt, The First Century of German Language Printing in the United States of America, 2034.   Contemporary sheep over wooden boards withworking brass clasps, abraded; spine with raised bands and later spine labels. Leather of top spine compartment damaged with loss of leather; front joint abraded and starting. Spots of browning throughout as usual in German imprints of this period, not worse and indeed better than is often the case.  (26967)

Billmeyer-PrintedGerman Lutheran Hymnal

•  Seventh edition of this German Lutheran hymnal for use in Pennsylvania and surrounding states. This Billmeyer edition, preceded by a frontispiece portrait of Martin Luther, is printed in two columns in fraktur type; it contains the texts of the hymns only, no music. The work was first published in 1786, with a number of subsequent editions. Helmuth's Kurze Andachten, a short collection of morning, evening, and other occasional prayers, was issued with this edition of the hymnal and is usually, as here, bound in at the end.

•  Hymnal: Shaw & Shoemaker 43969 ( = 43951); Arndt, The First Century of German Language Printing in the United States of America, 2286. Kurze Andachten: Shaw & Shoemaker 44299; Arndt 2288.   Contemporary black roan in imitation of straight-grain morocco, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; binding with minor scuffing, spine with faintly visible scuff from now-absent shelving label. Front pastedown institutionally rubber-stamped; back pastedown with Pennsylvania bookseller's small ticket. Expectable spots of browning throughout as usual in German imprints of this period. A few page corners dog-eared.  (24426)

BETWIXTthe Devil & a Doctor — Oxford Controversy

•  Uncut copy of this satire on Matthew Tindal's Rights of the Christian Church Asserted, here in the standard printing with the expected footnote on p. 21. Evans went to the trouble of printing the initials of the obscured names backwards for most of the piece (so that Oxford, for instance, appears as "D–– O," and Tindal as "L–– T"), but an early reader has left marginalia identifying many of the people and places to whom the author refers, and in the last two pages the initials revert to their proper order.

•  ESTC T22250; Foxon E519; NCBEL, II, 547. Recent marbled-paper wrappers, front wrapper with paper label. One page stamped by a now-defunct institution. Some early inked marginalia, one page with first few letters of each line hand-supplied where the printer erred. First and last pages with extremely light foxing.

SPIRIT POWER TRUTH above LETTER FORMS SHADOWS

•  Uncommon second, expanded edition of these sermons, originally published in 1657. “The Two Mighty and Wonderfull, Mysterious Trees of Eden in the Garden of Elohim Incognita Unknown,” translated by Everard and here with a separate title-page, closes the first portion of the volume; “The mystical divinity of Dionysius the Areopagite” also has a separate title-page, dated 1657 (reproducing the title-page of this portion from the first edition). Click the interior image for an enlargement.

Everard (1584?–1640/41) was a Calvinist divine and controversialist described by William Penn as “a renowned Independent, and as the great spiritual separatist” (DNB); he was imprisoned and released numerous times on various charges of heresy, with several of those charges involving his outspoken opposition to the proposed match between Prince Charles and Maria Ana, Infanta of Spain.

Scarce: A search of OCLC, ESTC, and NUC Pre-1956 finds only seven U.S. holdings, one of which has been deaccessioned and is this copy.

•  ESTC R222643; Wing (2nd ed.) E3532A. On Everard, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   Recent quarter calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-ruled raised bands. Title-page institutionally rubber-stamped at base; lower (closed) edges also. Pages age-toned, with some light spotting.  (24900)

TO Part VI

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