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A Manual for Confessors

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•  Tamburini (1591–1675) was an Italian Jesuit who published his Methodus expeditae confessionis, tum pro confessariis tum pro poenitentibus for the first time at Milan in 1648. It enjoyed considerable success with at least ten editions in the 17th century and six in the 18th. This is the first New World edition.

An interesting work on confession and Christian ethics, this was written for confessors, covering a multitude of topics from the general concept of confession to superstition, sacrilege, adultery, lying during confession, and on to absolution. Tamburini also addresses condemned propositions and speculations.

Searches of NUC Pre-1956 and WorldCat locate fewer than eight copies of this edition in U.S. libraries.

•  Medina, Mexico. 4745; this edition not in DeBacker-Sommervogel.   Contemporary Mexican sheep binding, gilt spine extra, all edges red; covers with wear and abrasions, spine tips pulled with loss of leather and a small area of old, red, transluscent staining at base. Lacks half-title (half-titles are rare in Mexican books of this era). Small worming to lower inner margin throughout, most often only pinhole but occasionally into the text and touching letters. Generally, a nice and clean little book.  (29855)

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“ChristiansUnjustly Accused of Polytheism” — On the Unity of Jehovah

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•  First edition. The ostensible conversion of the title was actually an excuse to attack the Athanasian creed; written by the controversialist Rev. Henry Taylor and addressed to Elisha Levi, these letters “espoused the restrained Arianism of Samuel Clarke . . . and embraced the Apollinarian heresy which questioned the human nature of Christ's person” (DNB).

Letters II–IV and V–VII have separate title-pages, dated 1773 and 1774 respectively.

•  ESTC T101252; Allibone 2344; Lowndes 2581–82. On Taylor, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online.   Recent quarter calf with marbled paper–covered sides, leather edges tooled in blind, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-stamped decorations in compartments. Outer (closed) edges institutionally rubber-stamped; title-page and one other pressure-stamped in an old style. Very clean and with wide margins.  (25083)

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Controversial Apocalyptic “Analysis”
   [“Controversial” being ONE Word for It!]

•  Uncommon second, expanded edition: Ananti-Catholic examination of biblical prophesy, written by a minister of Larbert who claimed that much of Revelation had been fulfilled by the actions of the king of Prussia, and who predicted the total destruction of Turkey (to the delight, it was rumored, of Catherine the Great). The Monthly Review, expressing doubt over the “new and amazing explications” contained in the first edition, concluded that “you will find in [this book] such things as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered the heart of any man, except the heart of Mr. Lauchlan Taylor . . . or of that other wonderful Decypherer, who discovered the Cherokee Indians in the prophecies of Ezekiel” (Vol. XXVIII, March 1763). Click the image for an enlargement.

Leaf containing pp. 109–10 is a cancel.

•  ESTC T115642.   Removed from a nonce volume. Title-page with inked numeral in upper outer corner. Occasional light staining or dust-soiling; one outer margin with inked annotation. A nice, neat book.  (27637)

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Early American Edition: German Reformed Hymnal

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•  Gerhardt Tersteegen (1697–1769) was a pillar of German pietism, a popular and innovative poet noted for his use of free verse, and (along with Joachim Neander) one of the two most significant German hymnographers of the 18th century. First published in 1729, his “Spiritual Flower Garden for Ardent Souls” contains “end-rhymes,” “meditations,” and hymns. The first American edition appeared in 1747; this is the fourth.

•  Evans 23823; ESTC W21016; Arndt & Eck 805.   Contemporary mottled sheep, covers framed in blind, with remnants of original clasp, spine with later gilt-stamped leather title and publication labels; leather mildly rubbed, spine leather with small cracks, spine and joints unobtrusively repaired. Front free endpaper with pencilled ownership inscription dated 1835; afterwards, ex–theological library: Old-fashioned bookplate on front pastedown, title-page pressure-stamped, pocket on back pastedown. Pagination erratic; several pages appearing out of order. A few corners bumped or dog-eared; a good many sections moderately browned and stained as is commonly seen with these Germantown imprints.  (27905)

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Dramatic Romance — Comic Opera — Hot Air Balloons

Each:   $450.00

Bifolia. [2] ff.
Each:   $1000.00

•  Featured plays include Romeo and Juliet, Douglas, The West Indian, and "a new comic opera" called Robin Hood; or, Sherwood Forest. Secondary attractions range from dances to minor dramatic works to pantomimes, with sheets for consecutive evenings showing how a main attraction might be paired with a comedy one night and a musical entertainment the next.

These theatrical ephemera are quite scarce: While 19th-century examples are fairly common, a check of ESTC found only a few scattered instances of 18th-century Theatre-Royal playbills, none with more than one holding.

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Considering theA--------n R---------n

•  Although this is labelled “Second Edition,” it is printed from the same setting of type as the first edition. (Another edition of 1778, also labelled “Second Edition,” is indeed entirely reset and has a shorter collation.) The work attempts to convey the substance of several Parliamentary speeches concerning the American controversy, with at least one Cassandra saying the Franco-American alliance cannot last, and another doubting the war can have any lasting effect on the British economy. Click the image for an enlargement.

•  Adams, American Controversy, 78-102b; Sabin 95788.   Sewn, later wrappers applied; some foxing. Four leaves chipped along the outer margin, not affecting text. Without the final blank (only); with the half-title. A very good, clean copy.  (25497)

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Thomas à K forAmerican Methodists
    Ownership Marks to Dream On?

•  Early American printing of John Wesley's abridged version of the Imitatio Christi, following the London first edition of 1741. This was one of a series of works published by John Dickins, an early Methodist preacher, for the use of Methodist Societies in the U.S.; Dickins's publishing operation eventually became the Methodist Publishing House, still in business today as the United Methodist Publishing House.

Provenance: An interesting array of ownership inscriptions: “Abigail Davis Book Given her By her Friend [Master?] Vaughan” — “Abigail Davis Book”— “Abigail Davis” — “Abigail Vaughan, Her Book,” this last written largest of all.  (“Reader, I married him”?)

•  Evans 27179; ESTC W33646.   Contemporary sheep, binding overall showing scuffs and small cracks. Endpapers and fly-leaf with early inked ownership inscriptions; title-page verso institutionally rubber-stamped. Pages age-toned and spotted, with intermittent pencilled bracketing; a few leaves starting to separate. (20808)

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TO Part XXXIV . . .

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