RELIGION

RareAyr Imprint

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mouse-over, for an enlargement.

•  Two works onthe Creation by 18th-century writers of very different backgrounds. Dalrymple was a native of Ayr, educated for the church, and served in Ayr for 68 years. His Mosaic Account appeared in this sole edition and was one of the first books printed in Ayr, which received its first press in 1791 when John Wilson, one of the printers here, set up shop. It is rare: ESTC locates only three copies worldwide, two in Britain and one in Canada (BL, SNL, Un. Brit. Col.).

Browne, according to our colleague Steve Weissman of Ximenes Rare Books, “was a pen-cutter by profession; he was also an enthusiastic fisherman, and is now best remembered for his poetry on angling, and for an edition of The Compleat Angler, which he edited at the suggestion of Samuel Johnson.” The first edition of The Works and Rest of the Creation appeared in 1752. The entire work, divided into three parts, is in verse. Quite an accomplishment.

•  Dalrymple: ESTC N26245. Browne: NSTC B4891. Later 19th-century half calf, rubbed. Rubber-stamp on front pastedown. All edges carmine.

Another Variety of“Sample” Book
  Paperback! Pentecostal Hymnal (with Music)

•  “Facsimile in miniature”: Pocket-sized hymnal, meant to encourage readers to purchase one of the various larger bound editions but containing complete music and lyrics for over 200 hymns. The compiler was a Methodist evangelist whose family immigrated to the United States when he was 13; his hymnals (of which several volumes were published) are among the earliest such works specifically earmarked for the nascent Pentecostal movement.

This “paperback” issue is VERY UNCOMMON, unlike the “hardback” printing.

•  Publisher’s printed paper wrappers, lightly spotted, chipping over spine and with edge nicks; back wrapper with upper outer corner torn away just touching ornamental type border. Some corners dog-eared; one page with inkstain obscuring a few words and notes, pages otherwise clean.

From 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.

By a Friend ofNewton & Halley

Click the interior images for enlargements.

•  Reconciling science and theology while maintaining the tenets and “proofs” of both is not easy and has been a field of study unto itself for centuries now. Derham (1657–1735), a clergy and amateur scientist, seems to have had the formula that pleased readers in England and America during of the Age of Enlightenment, for this is the sixth of at least 19 editions in English alone in the 18th century, the first having appeared in 1715. Even Russians were attracted to the work, for a Russian language edition appeared in 1798.

Derham's intention here, as with his Boyle Lectures (published as Physico-Theology), is “to refute anti-Christian philosophies by using natural history to promote and prove a natural theology” (on-line DNB). That he was a worthy friend of Newton and Halley can be seen in the serious science contained here.

This has three folding plates and a number of nice head- and tailpieces.

•  ESTC T68038.   Recent quarter brown leather, round spine, raised bands accented with gilt beading. Combed-pattern marbled paper on sides. Early ownership signature on title-page. A bit of foxing, only; clean and pleasant. (21563)

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)

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)

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.

The “Well-Regulated Mind” Can Value

the Bible AND Science 

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•  Sole edition of this piece by an avid antiquary, a one-time soldier in both the Austrian and British armies who later took holy orders and became chaplain to the Prince of Wales. Here, the Rev. Douglas offers analysis of the age of the earth and of various climatic changes, based on various fossils and his understanding of the process of fossilization, but also relying on Scriptural quotation. While relying on Biblical evidence for the Flood, Douglas implies that certain words and phrases (such as “six days”) should be understood metaphorically, and that other geological events in addition to the Biblical deluge might have deposited “the fossil phænomena that are found in the bowels of the earth, in all quarters of the globe” (p. 29) — which, according to the author, the “well-regulated mind” might readily believe while still finding “the power of the Almighty . . . manifest, and fully as important, as we find it to be recorded in the first book of Genesis.”

The title-page vignette depicts a mysterious, horse-headed creature; like the eight plates illustrating this work, it is an aquatint attributed only to “D.”

•  ESTC T12254. On Douglas, see: The Dictionary of National Biography. Recent quarter calf over marbled paper–covered sides, leather edges tooled in blind, spine with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels and with gilt-stamped decorations within compartments. Title-page stamped by a now-defunct institution, with upper margin excised, and vignette replaced as described above; several other pages also stamped, along with several plates. Text with a few inked corrections, done in an early hand. Pages faintly waterstained, with light cockling and spotting.

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
for an enlargement.

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)

The Life of a Martyred Atheist

•  Sole edition of this life of Lucilio Vanini, an Italian philosopher who was burned at the stake for atheism — he had suggested that human beings evolved from apes and argued against the concept of immortal souls. In addition to his biography, this work includes a list of published works by Vanini, who referred to himself as Giulio Cesare (Julius Caesar).

•  Contemporary speckled calf, spine gilt extra and with gilt-stamped label; spine with a few small chips, joints open. Pages slightly age-toned, with pencilled emphasis marks.

Shaker Theology

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•  First edition of this explication of Shakerism, with replies to various critics on points of theology. Of particular interest is the last chapter entitled “Infidel mistakes,” a reply to noted agnostic Robert G. Ingersoll. Illustrated with a frontispiece portrait of the author, a Shaker elder in the community of South Union, Kentucky.

•  Richmond 545; Egbert, II, 182.   Original brown cloth, gilt-lettered on front cover; spine and part of cover sunned, small loss of cloth at spine extremities and corners, thumb-sized waterspot and another discoloration to front cover. Ex-library: call number on spine (blacked out), bookplate, pressure-stamp on title-page and penciled notations on verso, rubber-stamps on pastedown and at base of p. [iii], date due slip in the back. Front hinge (inside) cracked, title-page and following two leaves detached (but present). Waterstain at top left part of frontispiece and shallow chip at inner edge. Marginal tear extending from outer edge of title-page and one other page. Good.  (24436)

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)

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.

Verses for Morning & Evening,
    forGerman Americans

•  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.

For more GERMAN AMERICANA, 
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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.

Keepin' 'em Down . . .

•  Originally published in 1666 as An abridgment; or, a summary account of all the statute laws of the kingdom made against Jesuites, seminary priests, and popish recusants, and then issued in 1673 and 1675 under the title A summary account of all the statute-laws of this kingdom now in force, made against Jesuites, seminary priests, and popish recusants, this is a reissue, with cancel title-page, of the 1675 edition, changing the title yet again. Click the image for an enlargement.

An important negative statement of civil liberties and religious freedom.

•  ESTC R21099; Wing (rev.) E862.   Removed from a nonce volume; dusty, in modern wrappers. Sidenotes closely trimmed with loss of letters and even a short words.  (20451)

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

Click the interior images for enlargements.

•  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)

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.

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.

Dead Jane Cornelia

•  Eulogy on the death of this young woman (21 years old at the time of her death), who became a Sunday School teacher and a model Christian. This pamphlet was printed for the benefit of other young Christians that they might follow her example. The wrappers are printed with etchings, there is an etching of a young woman as a title-page vignette, and a full-page illustration (also an etching) on the verso of the title-leaf showing young people going to church.

•  Very Good. Sewn; in original printed wrappers. A little staining on the very top edge of the front wrapper and first two leaves. (788)

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