
RELIGION

A B BIBLES C D-E F-G H-J
K-L M N-P Q-R S T-V W-Z
A Hunting Accident Followed by a
Religious Experience
The wagon-boy; or trust in Providence. New York: J.S. Redfield, [1845?]. 16mo. 16 pp.; illus.
$40.00
Redfield's toy book, “Second series — no. 9,” according to the front wrapper. The tale is illustrated with a title-page vignette and five wood engravings, including a hunting scene signed “W. Howland.”
Click the images for enlargements.
Provenance: Inside front wrapper, faint pencilled inscription, “Lydia Smith from Theodosia Warfield.”
Publisher's printed paper wrappers, spine resewn some time ago. Scattered light spots, corners bumped. Pp. 3/4 torn at inner margin with loss of paper and three letters, not affecting ease of reading. (27838)

William Pitt's Actions & William Wilberforce's Writings
Not Compatible with “Genuine Christianity”
Wakefield, Gilbert. A letter to William Wilberforce, esq. on the subject of his late publication. London: Pr. for the author by A. Hamilton & sold by G. Kearsley, 1797. 8vo (20 cm, 7.9). [2], 71, [1] pp. (lacking half-title & 2 final adv. ff.).
$100.00
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First edition of this strongly worded response to Wilberforce’s Practical View of the Prevailing Religious Systems.
NSTC T53304. Removed from a nonce volume; half-title and two final advertisement leaves lacking. Title-page with early inked inscription in upper outer corner, partially shaved; title-page verso with old-fashioned institutional presentation rubber-stamp dated 1915. Pages clean. (27654)
Walker, Clement. Relations and observations, historicall and politick, upon the Parliament, begun Anno Dom. 1640 ... together with an appendix, touching the proceedings of the Independent faction in Scotland. [London?], 1648. 4to (18.3 cm, 7.25"). A–T4t2V–Z4Aa2; [12], 174 pp. [with] An appendix to the History of Independency ... London, 1648. 4to. a–c4(-c4); [2], 20 pp. [with] Anarchia Anglicana: Or, the history of Independency. The second part. [London], 1649. 4to. A–Z4Aa–Kk4; [8], 256 pp.; 1 double-page plt. [with] The high court of justice; or Cromwells new slaughter house in England ... [London], 1651. 4to. A–I4; 71, [1 (blank)] pp. [with] M., T. The history of Independency. The fourth and last part. London: H. Brome & H. Marsh, 1660. 4to. A–R4; [8], 124 pp.
$1000.00
Click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.
First edition under this title of the first two parts of this anti-Puritan history of the rivalry between the Presbyterian and Independent factions of Parliament, with early printings of the third and fourth parts. The brief introductory portion, originally titled The Mystery of the Two Juntos, was first published in 1647; after the second part (Anarchia Anglicana) appeared in the following year, Walker was sent to the Tower and died there shortly thereafter. The third (The High Court of Justice; or Cromwells New Slaughter House in England) and fourth part (History of Independency) are present here in 1651 and 1660 printings, respectively.
This variant reads “II. Bookes”on line 7 of the title-page; R4 is cancelled and not present here, as is the case in most copies. The second portion has a separate title-page printed in red and black, giving Anarchia Anglicana: Or, the History of Independency as the title and the pseudonymous Theodorus Verax as the author.
Relations: ESTC R205117; Wing (rev.) W334A. Appendix: ESTC R233193; Wing (rev.) W321A. Anarchia: ESTC R27579; Wing (rev.) W317. High Court: ESTC R207365;Wing (rev.) W325. History, fourth part: ESTC R18043; Wing (rev.) M81B. Fourth part: Issued as part of Wing W324, “and possibly separately” as well according to ESTC. Contemporary calf, covers framed and panelled in blind with blind-tooled corner fleurons, sometime rebacked with first leaves tipped (back) in; spine with new gilt-stamped title, sides rubbed and abraded. Front free endpaper lacking. Front pastedown with old institutional bookplate and pencilled notations, title-page with faded rubber-stamp (and with author’s name added in an early hand), back pastedown and lower edges of closed book rubber-stamped. Two title-pages with one short tear from outer edge each, not touching text; title-page verso with shadows of pencilled numerals. Lower and outer margins trimmed closely, in some cases touching catchwords, signature marks, or shouldernotes.

The Great New Testament Epic
Wallace, Lewis. Ben-Hur a tale of the Christ. New York: Harper & Brothers, (© 1880). 8vo (17.5 cm, 6.9"). 552, 12 (adv.) pp.
$200.00
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First edition, later issue of this best-selling novel, one of the classic works of historical fiction. This is the third state, with the “To the wife of my youth” dedication page, no date on the title-page, and advertisement list beginning “The Octavo Paper Novels in this list . . .”
BAL 20798; Grolier, American 100, 82; Russo & Sullivan, Bibliographical Studies of Seven Authors of Crawfordsville,Indiana, 315–17; Wright, III, 5720. Publisher's textured brown cloth with bevelled edges, spine with gilt-stamped title; binding slightly shaken, edges and extremities rubbed, sides with spots of discoloration. Hinges (inside) tender. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate on front pastedown, title-page pressure-stamped, dedication page with inked numeral, back free endpaper with slip. Front free endpaper with faint early inscription, front fly-leaf with inked ownership inscription. Pages age-toned; a few leaves with light staining, most clean. (26381)

Fishing Classic, Important Lives, & Two Fore-Edge Paintings
Walton, Izaak. The complete angler [and] The lives of Dr. John Donne, Sir Henry Wotton, Mr. Richard Hooker, Mr. George Herbert, and Dr. Robert Sanderson. London: John Major, 1824–25. 8vo (17.1 cm, 6.75"). 2 vols. I: lviii, 416 pp.; 14 plts. II: xviii, [2], 503, [1] pp.; 11 plts.
$900.00
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First major appearance of Walton's beloved treatise in combination with his collected lives of authors, the set (here in its stated second edition) charmingly illustrated with copper-engraved plates and wood-engraved in-text illustrations. The Angler plates generally represent dashing young men — and a few young ladies — in the garb of Walton's day, while many of the in-text illustrations depict hooked fish; the Lives volume opens with a representation of the subjects' signatures within a decorative frame and includes, along with a portrait of each, ten renditions of important moments and locations in the subjects' careers as well as numerous smaller portraits, coats of arms, etc.
Each volume is decorated with a vertical fore-edge painting.
Fore-edges: Angler with two jaunty 17th-century gentlemen and their rods and lines, Lives with a portrait of Walton, both paintings within arabesque frames.
Bindings: Straight-grained maroon morocco, covers framed in gilt triple fillets, spines with gilt-stamped author and title; board edges with gilt roll, turn-ins with gilt double fillets. All edges gilt.
Provenance: Front pastedowns each with armorial bookplate of collector John Train; front fly-leaves with early inked ownership inscriptions of Lucy S. Sanford and T. (or J.?) Lister.
NSTC 2W4371. Bound as above, rubbed at joints/extremities, hinges (inside) tender; text block of vol. II starting to separate from spine and front free endpaper with outer edge chipped. Pages generally clean; moderate foxing to some plates, with offsetting to surrounding pages.
Unusual and very attractive. (30156)

YES: “Twinkle Twinkle” Is Here . . .
Ward, Mary O. Songs for the little ones at home. New York: American Tract Society, © 1852. 12mo. 288 pp. (incl. frontis. & engr. t.-p.); illus.
$100.00
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Quintessental mid-19th-century sentiment expresses itself in this collection of poems for children, the predominant topics being babies and siblings, animals, kindness to the poor, prayer, and good behavior. Also present are pieces about temperance and tobacco, the “filthy weed” (p. 174), and several on the importance of supporting foreign missions.
The volume opens with a wood-engraved frontispiece and title-page, the latter done by Augustus Kinnersley; vignettes by Phinneas F. Annin, E.J. Whitney, and others are sprinkled throughout, many featuring children with birds or animals. First published in 1842.
Binding: Publisher's dark terra-cotta cloth, front cover black- and gilt-stamped, spine with gilt-stamped title, back cover with blind-stamped frame. All edges gilt.
Bound as above; minor wear to extremities, otherwise fresh and bright. Pages gently age-toned with very few spots of light foxing. A very nice copy. (30287)

Puritan Ex-Pat
Repatriated & Re-“Involved”
Ward, Nathaniel. A word to Mr. Peters, and two words
for the Parliament and kingdom. Or, An answer to a scandalous pamphlet, entituled, A word for the Armie, and two words to the kingdom: subscribed by Hugh Peters. Wherein the authority of Parliament is infringed, the fundamentall laws of the land subverted; the famous city of London blemished; and all the godly ministers of the city scandalized. In vindication of all which, this small treatise is published, by a friend to the Parliament, city, and ministery of it. London: Pr. by Fr: Neile for Tho: Underhill, 1647. Small 4to. [1] f., 38 pp.
$875.00
Ward (1578–1652), a clergyman and compiler of a law code for Massachusetts, was a Puritan who lived in Massachusetts from 1633 to 1646. The present work was written in “Answer to a scandalous pamphlet, entituled, A word for the Armie, and two words to the
kingdom: subscribed by Hugh Peters;” which in turn was a reply to Ward's A Religious Retreat Sounded to a Religious Army in which Ward called for state control of the army — a bold suggestion during the Civil War!
Click the image for an enlargement.
Wing (rev. ed.) W792; Thomason E.413[7]; Sabin 101330; ESTC R21688. Removed from a nonce volume. Old two-digit number in upper outer corner of title-page. Sewing starting to separate. In modern wrappers. (20998)

Against! “Secret Confederations”
Warfield, Charles. The kingdom and glory of the branch, and testament of the west. Baltimore: William Wooddy [sic], 1833. 8vo (21.9 cm, 8.6"). 261, [3 (blank)], 263–341, [1 (blank)] pp. (lacking port.).
$500.00
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Sole edition of these mystical meditations composed by the eccentric founder of the Branch Tabernacle in Baltimore. Anti-Masonic sentiments are woven throughout, e.g., “General George Washington, of N. America, used a Masonic influence to the best of Purposes; and we know that a man of less virtue, would have acted very differently. . . . If secret Orders are patronized, at large,— their pretentions will extend to Legislative counsels, and to the Judiciary, and Executive departments, and, that too, with much unfairness.” (pp. 180–81). Warfield also has a great deal to say about government, U.S. law, women, and slavery, all mixed in virtually at random with his religious proclamations.
Scarce. Only 11 institutions, all in the U.S., report holdings via OCLC.
Sabin 37866; American Imprints 22538. Period-style quarter tan cloth with light blue paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label. Frontispiece portrait lacking. Light to moderate foxing. (23903)

Scarce Treatise: The Reformation in the
Netherlands
Water, Jona Willem te. Kort verhaal der Reformatie van Zeeland in de zestiende eeuwe; benevens eenige verhandelingen dienende tot ophelderinge van de historie der kerk-hervorminge aldaar ... Middelburg: Pieter Gillissen, 1776. 8vo (20.9 cm, 8.25"). [6], xviii, 117, [11] pp.
$875.00
First edition of this history of the Dutch Reformed Church, written by a clergyman and professor at Leiden University. The title-page is printed in red and black.
Click the images for enlargements.
Provenance: Covers gilt-stamped with the device of Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere.
Binding: Contemporary calf framed in gilt triple fillets and blind roll, rebacked preserving original spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title-label; covers gilt-stamped with supra-libros as above. All edges marbled.
Uncommon: OCLC and NUC Pre-1956 find only six U.S. locations.
Bound as above; spine leather with small chips and cracks, sides with small unobtrusive areas of rubbing and light discoloration. Binding overall solid and still
attractive; interior clean and nice. (25320)

The CALVINIST REPUBLIC of
Ghent
Water, Willem te. Historie der Hervormde Kerke te Gent, van haeren aenvang tot derzelver einde; mitsgaders een kort verhael der gereformeerde doorluchtige schoole te Gent. Zedert den jaere 1578. tot het jaer 1584. Hier zyn bygevoegt de levens-beschryvingen der naemruchtigste predikanten te Gent. Utrecht: Gisbert. Tieme van Paddenburg & Abraham van Paddenburg, 1756. 8vo (21.3 cm, 8.4"). [50], 293, [1 (blank)] pp.
$300.00
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First edition of this history of the Dutch Reformed Church in Ghent, written by the pastor of Zaamslag, Zeeland (and father of Jona Willem te Water, professor at the University of Leiden). The work focuses on the period from 1578 to 1584, when Ghent was led by a pro-Calvinist city council.The title-page is printed in red and black, and the text is decorated with foliate initials and woodcut head- and tail-pieces.
Uncommon: OCLC locates only seven U.S. institutional holdings, one of which has since been deaccessioned.
Pirenne, Bibliographie de l'histoire de Belgique, 2125. Recent quarter calf with sides covered in German-style brown paper speckled with black, leather edges tooled in blind, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-dotted raised bands. All edges stained red. Pages lightly age-toned, with some mild offsetting; first and last few leaves foxed; clean. (25854)
Watts,
Isaac. The improvement of the mind, in two parts. Also, a discourse
on the education of youth, and remnants of time, employed in prose and verse.
Bennington [VT]: Pr. by Anthony Haswell, 1807. 12mo (17 cm, 6.75"). 382 pp., [1
(blank)] f.
$90.00

Watts was not only known as a writer of hymns, including those for children, but was also a philosopher, writing a book on logic. This work sets forth an ambitious and well-reasoned program for Christian liberal education.
Click the interior image for an enlargement.
Shaw & Shoemaker 14175; On Watts, see: The Dictionary of National Biography, LX, 670. Contemporary speckled calf, somewhat rubbed, corners bumped with a little loss of leather therefrom. Occasional spots of browning or foxing and some small dog ears. Bookplate on front pastedown. (5620)
Wells, Seth Youngs. Millennial praises, containing a collection of gospel hymns, in four parts; adapted to the day of Christ's second appearing. Composed for the use of his people. Hancock: Pr. by Josiah Tallcott, jr., 1813. 12mo. viii, 288, [4 (adv.)] pp.
$3500.00
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First edition of the very first Shaker hymnal, including the text without music for 140 hymns. The work also has the distinction of being the first book from a Shaker press, having been preceded only by broadsides and pamphlets. That the Hancock printers were still learning their art is evident by the at times wobbly impression of the type, the sudden shift to a smaller point size in part of the table of contents, etc. But it is a noble effort.
This work appeared during the period of American Shaker history when attention was expended on codifying Shaker beliefs and practices. This is the first attempt to codify the hymnal.
Shaw & Shoemaker 30511; Richmond 1416. Full original calf, plain style, rubbed overall with small chips on front cover; chip at head of spine, front joint starting. Paper browned, and some stains; a bit of blue crayon doodling in blank area of top left
corner of p. 50. Early leaves with stitch holes in inner margin, not touching text; three leaves with tears, not affecting text. Ex–theological library with area of spine blacked out where call number once was; library name and five-digit number rubber-stamped on front pastedown, accession number inked and rubber-stamped at base of p. [iii]. (21139)
Why, Again?
(Wesleyan Methodism).
An answer to the question, Why are you a Wesleyan Methodist? London: Pub. by
John Mason, 1842. 8vo. 80 pp.
$60.00
Possibly a first edition as no edition statement is found. Other printings in 1842 state "Second Edition," "Third Edition," etc.
Sewn, no wrappers. Title-page detached, torn, chipped, stained. Text dusty.
(Wesleyan Methodism). Vevers,
William. An appeal to the Wesleyan societies, on the attempt now made to subvert
their constitution. London: Sold for the Author, by John Mason, 1834. 8vo. 42
pp.
$95.00
The fourth edition of an impassioned plea for the Wesleyans to
adhere to the Constitution of 1795.
Disbound from a nonce volume; dusty, age-toning, six-digit
number stamped on title-page. Sewing perished.
A
Guide for
(ALBANY) Youth in
Their
FIRST
Attempts
at Prayer
Westminster
Assembly (1643–52). The
shorter catechism: Composed by the Assembly of Divines ... containing the principles
of the Christian religion; with Scripture proofs. Albany: Websters & Skinners,
1814. 16mo (13.3 cm, 5.25"). 70, [2 (blank)] pp.
$125.00
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Early Albany printing of the Shorter Catechism, followed by prayers
and a hymn for young children.
Very few institutions hold actual hard copies of this edition, as opposed
to microform; OCLC locates
only two U.S. institutional holdings,
one of which has since been deaccessioned.
Shaw & Shoemaker 33653. Later paper wrappers, lightly
dust-soiled. Front flyleaves with early pencilled inscriptions; first page
of preface with rubber-stamped numeral in lower margin. Foxed; upper corners
bumped yet paper untattered. (25893)
Westminster Assembly.
The Assembly's shorter catechism. New York: S.W. Benedict, 1857. 48mo
(11.1 cm, 4.4"). 31 pp.
$45.00
Westropp, Hodder Michael; & Charles Staniland Wake. Ancient symbol worship. Influence of the phallic idea in the religions of antiquity. New York: J.W. Bouton & London: Trübner & Co., 1874. 8vo (24.7 cm, 9.75"). 98, [6 (adv.)] pp.
$200.00
First edition: Two papers read before the Anthropological Society of London on 5 April, 1870, discussing artifacts and religious practices connected to various literal and allegorical phallic representations. The illustrations found in the second edition were issued there for the first time.
The advertisement leaves are devoted specifically to books of phallic subject matter.
NSTC 0803266; Allibone, Critical Dictionary, 1505. Publisher’s green cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped medallion, spine with gilt-stamped title; cloth rubbed at corners and pulled at spine extremities, board edges lightly discolored. Pencilled owner’s name in upper margin of title-page. Title-page and two others pressure-stamped; preface with inked annotation and stamped numeral. Pages slightly age-toned, else clean.

Lappish Devotionals Rare, by Our Tracing
Wexels, Wilhelm Andreas. Rokkus-ja oappo-girje. Samas jårggaluvvum. Kristianiast: Kr. Gröndahl lut prenttijuvvum, 1840. [1] f., 209, [1 blank] pp.
$450.00
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Devotional exercises in Lappish. This translation of “Bønne-og leerebog,” excerpted from Wexels's Andagtsbog, was done by Niels Joachim Christian Vibe Stockfleth.
NUC Pre-1956 locates only one copy; RLIN adds no others.
Quarter recent leather over marbled boards; spine with gilt-stamped title label and five raised bands, two inscribed lines above and below each gilt band. Edges stained green. A handsome copy. (24884)
Wheatley, James. An extract of the life and death of Mr. John Janeway. London: John Paramore, 1783. 12mo (19 cm, 7.5"). 40 pp.
$300.00
Originally printed in 1749, this piece was excerpted and edited by James Wheatley from James Janeway’s Invisibles, realities, demonstrated in the holy life and triumphant death of Mr. John Janeway. John Janeway was a Puritan scholar who died at an early age; his brother’s account of his religious experiences was considered exemplary reading for quite some time, and went through numerous editions.
The title-page proclaims “This book is not to be sold, but given away.”
ESTC N9602. Recent marbled paper–covered boards, spine with printed paper label. Title-page with repairs to margins and one page crease; title-page verso rubber-stamped by a now-defunct institution. First few leaves with inner margins repaired. Pages untrimmed, and gently age-toned.

Preached
in Yorkshire
Whitaker, Thomas Dunham. Religion and loyalty connected; being the substance of a discourse preached in St. John's church, Leeds, on the general fast day, February 28th, 1794.... Leeds: Pr. for Thomas Wright, 1794. 4to. 20 pp.
$40.00
First and only edition of this sermon delivered in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Quite scarce: NUC Pre-1956 fails to find even a single copy, and the electronic ESTC (accessed April 1996) located only one U.S. copy, at Rutgers University.
Disbound, but preserving original front printed wrapper; very dust-soiled; untrimmed.
White,
John. The third and last letter to a gentleman dissenting from the Church
of England... The second edition. London: C. Davis, W. Craighton, & M. Cooper,
1745. 8vo (21.7 cm, 8.6"). [2], 85, [1] pp.
$450.00
Defense of various practices of the Church of England, although
the author acknowledges a certain want of discipline among his coreligionists;
the piece is followed by an appendix addressing the question of whether Dissenters
are being forced to act against their consciences in subscribing to the Church
Articles. This is a reissue of the first edition; in some copies, a 10-line
errata slip is pasted over the printed 3-line errata on p. 85, but this example
is as issued, with the printed errata only.
ESTC T25456. Sewn, signatures separating, now in a Mylar folder.
Edges untrimmed. Title-page with small numerical stamp and slight spotting;
title-page and page edges darkened; a copy dog-eared and bumped.

BEFORE His Falling-Out with
the Wesleys — Travels in Georgia
Whitefield, George. A journal of a voyage from London to Savannah in Georgia. In two parts. Part I. From London to Gibraltar. Part II. From Gibraltar to Savannah. [bound with the same author's] A continuation of the Reverend Mr. Whitefield's journal from his arrival at Savannah, to his return to London. London: Pr. for James Hutton, 1739. 8vo. [2] ff., 38 pp., [1] f.London: Pr. for James Hutton, 1739. 8vo. 55, [1 (blank)] pp.
$2000.00
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George Whitefield (1714–70), a Calvinist preacher who had
also been an early follower of the Wesleys during the nascent years of Methodism,
was a prime mover in the Great Awakening in the English colonies in American
during the second quarter of the 18th century. The present works recount his
travel to and in Georgia in aid of the Wesleys' efforts there; the Continuation
offers half a dozen pages speaking to time spent in Ireland.
Fifth edition of the Voyage from London and second edition of the
Continuation.
Voyage from London: Sabin 103534; Alden & Landis
739/343; ESTC T29204. Continuation: Sabin 103535 & 103538; Alden
& Landis 739/340; ESTC T34033 & T34025. Recent full calf antique-style
with gilt concentric panels on covers and gilt corner-devices on same; round
spine with raised bands, each accented by gilt rules. 19th-century wood-engraved
portrait of Whitefield added as a frontispiece. A very pleasing volume. (21775)

“I Never Did Pretend to These Extraordinary Operations of Working Miracles”
Whitefield, George. The Rev. Mr. Whitefield’s answer, to the Bishop of London’s last pastoral letter. London: Pr. by W. Strahan for J. Oswald, 1739. 8vo (20.6 cm, 8.1"). 27, [1] pp. (without half-title and final adv. leaf).
$550.00
First edition: The Rev. Whitefield's reply to Bishop Edmund Gibson, who had rebuked Whitefield for presenting himself as an “enthusiast” who received direct revelation from God. Whitefield (1714–70), a Calvinistic Methodist whose friendship with John Wesley ended over theological disputes, was a controversial evangelist, a prolific sermonist, and a prime mover in the American Great Awakening of the mid-18th century.
Here he not only rebuts Gibson's charges, but also accuses the Church of England of preaching false doctrine.
ESTC T44854; Sabin 103577. Recent quarter calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-ruled raised bands. Lacking half-title and final advertisement leaf; p. 3 incorrectly numbered 1, matching ESTC's description. Pages lightly age-toned, a few with small areas of staining in outer margins. (25955)
In
Furtherance of Whitefield
& His Reply
(Whitefield,
George). Presbyter
of the Church of England. [drop-title] A supplement
to the Rev. Mr. Whitefield's Answer to the Bishop of London's last pastoral
letter. [London: No publisher/printer, 1739]. 8vo (20.6 cm, 8.1"). 8 pp.
$475.00


Sole edition: Supplement to the Rev. George Whitefield's reply to Bishop Edmund Gibson, in which Whitefield took the Anglican Church to task. This anonymously published item contains “Notes on the Pastoral Letter,” an attack on Gibson's language and theology in the pastoral letter which started the controversy, and “A Remark on the Weekly Miscellany of August 18th, 1739; with an Extract of a Letter from Mr. Seward, Relating to the Writer of the Same.”
ESTC T222052. Recent quarter calf and marbled paper–covered sides, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-ruled raised bands. Pages age-toned, edges slightly ragged. Inner margin of title-page with staining just touching text, and an unobtrusive repair. (25958)

NOT by a “Free-Thinker”
Whitehead, William Adee. The alleged atheism of the Constitution. From the Northern Monthly for November, 1867. Newark: 1867. 8vo. 15, [1 (blank)] pp.
$95.00
With a brief survey of early STATE-constitutional relationships to (Christian) religion.
NSTC 2W17788. Original wrappers, front wrapper chipped at edges, back wrapper chipped at inner edge and with paper remnants affixed at top. Leaves loose (wrappers included). Long tear in fore-margin of title-leaf and small chips in inner margins of title-
and final leaves. Some short marginal tears. Small chips to lower outer margins. Lengthwise fold mark. (8931)

Odes by a German Jesuit
Widl, Adam. Lyricorum libri III. Epodon liber unus.
Ingolstadt: Jo. Philippi Zinck, 1674. 12mo (13 cm, 5 1/8"). [xii] ff., 555, [1] p.
$750.00
Click the images for enlargement.
First edition of three books of odes and one book of epodes by a German Jesuit lauding a milieu of Jesuits, politicians, popes, biblical figures and religious icons, including the Virgin Mary, Thomas à Kempis, Ignatius Loyola, Francis Xavier, and Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III, among others. Like fellow Neo-Latin lyricists, Adam Widl (1639–1710) was much influenced by the style of the classical lyric poets, and very much by Jesuit contemporaries who followed them, namely “the Polish Horace” Mathias Casimir Sarbiewski (1595–1640), and “the German Horace” Jacob Balde (1604–68), who published his own Lyricorum libri IV, epodon liber unus in 1643 and to whom our author acknowledges his indebtedness by way of odes in his praise.
The text is in Latin printed in roman and italic, decorated with a few woodcut ornaments and one initial at the beginning of the dedication. The engraved title shows Widl holding a lamp and an open a book with the words “Poesis sacra et profana” written across the opening, as he floats above our book's title which appears in an abstract cartouche flanked by four figures standing in an architectural frame supported by portraits of Pindar, Horace Flaccus, Sarbiewski, and Balde.
WorldCat locates only two copies in the U.S.
Provenance: Albertus Henricus Krussi(?) (his ownership signature in ink, front flyleaf and engraved title).
Evidence of readership: Heavy underlining, occasional annotations, and scribbles on the rear flyleaf verso in early ink.
DeBacker-Sommervogel, VIII, 1107; W. Kühlmann, “Neo-Latin Literature in Early Modern Germany,” in Camden House History of German Literature, p. 297. Period-style calf, boards with single-ruled border; round spine with gilt-stamped red morocco label and blind-stamped devices in “compartments” defined by a gilt roll of a chain pattern; red speckled edges. Trimmed close and bound tightly, often affecting but not taking a few letters at the gutter, with light water- or dampstaining in upper outer corner extending into the middle of many pages; intermittent inkstains from the annotator's pen; one corner tip torn away and other corners creased, visible from the edges. Miniscule wormholes barely visible in upper and outer margins extending from preliminaries to mid-text.
A substantial little book in several senses. (29853)
Willison,
John. A fair and impartial testimony, essayed in name of a number of ministers, elders,
and Christian people of the Church of Scotland unto the laudable principles,
wrestlings & attainments of that church...with remarks; and humble pleadings
with our mother church, to exert herself to stop defection, and promote reformation....
Pittsburgh: Zadok Cramer (pr. by Cramer & Spear), 1808. 12mo (17.5 cm, 6.9").
234, [6] pp.
$325.00
First American edition, preceded by two scarce Edinburgh and Glasgow issues
(in 1744 and 1765, respectively), of this impassioned anti-Episcopalian commentary
on the contemporary state of Scottish Protestantism, written by an evangelical
divine who labored mightily in the name of unity of the Church of Scotland.
The work serves as an important source of information on both civil and church
history of the period; this copy is also an example of a very early Pittsburgh
imprint, following the first recorded printing in that city by only two years.
Shaw & Shoemaker 16746. Contemporary treed sheep, worn and front
cover with incisions; both covers with water damage to lower edges, spine
with head chipped and gilt-stamped title somewhat rubbed. Front free endpaper
with early inked notations and inscription dated 1819; title-page with early
inked ownership inscription in upper margin. Some age-toning, occasional
spots, last few leaves with waterstaining to lower outer corners—solid,
and in much better condition inside than the binding description would augur.
For
a page dedicated to the
FRIENDS/QUAKERS, click here.
Blind Allan Sight Lost & Restored
Wilson, John. Blind Allan, a tale, from “Lights & Shadows of Scottish Life.” [Glasgow?, Edinburgh/]: Pr. for the booksellers, n.d. [ca. 1837]. 12mo. 24 pp.
$70.00


Polynesia & Tahiti — 7 Maps & 6 Plates — Absorbing Narratives
Wilson, William, ed. & illus. A missionary voyage to the southern Pacific Ocean, performed in the years 1796, 1797, 1798, in the ship Duff, commanded by Captain James Wilson. Compiled from journals of the officers and the missionaries; and illustrated with maps, charts, and views ... London: Pr. by S. Gosnell for T. Chapman, 1799. 4to (28.5 cm, 11.25"). [12], c, 420, [12] pp.; 7 fold. maps, 6 plts.
$2000.00
Click the images for enlargements.
First edition. This account of a mission to Polynesia and Tahiti (funded by the London Missionary Society) supplies, it must be said, much more by way of the missionary travellers' interested observations of lands and people's exotic to them than it does reports of the proselytizations they pursued; it was compiled by chief mate William Wilson from his own journals and those of Captain James Wilson. Dr. Thomas Haweis, co-founder of the London Missionary Society, edited the work and the Rev. Samuel Greatheed provided (anonymously) the “Preliminary discourse; containing a geographical and historical account of the islands where missionaries have settled, and of others with which they are connected.” The Hill catalogue says, “The narrative is fresh, although sometimes naive, and provides a glimpse of everyday life on the islands that the mariner or naturalist didn't consider worth reporting.” There is a most interesting Appendix, also, canvassing everything from native dress to houses to dances to cookery to canoes to marriage and the place of women to funeral customs — not forgetting human sacrifice and sports.
The volume is illustrated with six plates and seven oversized, folding maps, and includes an extensive list of subscribers. An inferior, less expensive edition appeared in the same year, printed by Gillet; the present example is sometimes identified as the Gosnell edition to distinguish it from the Gillet production.
ESTC T87461; Hill, Pacific Voyages, 1894; Sabin 49480. Contemporary reverse sheep, framed and panelled in blind, spine with leather title-label; leather peeling at extremities, front joint repaired and back one starting from head, spine with label rubbed and two compartments discolored. Hinges (inside) reinforced with cloth tape; front free endpaper lacking. Front pastedown with institutional bookplates; dedication leaf with pressure-stamp in upper margin and rubber-stamped numeral in lower margin. Title-page and dedication with offsetting to margins; title-page with small hole not touching text. First map foxed, with tears along two folds; sixth map with jagged tear along one inner corner; other maps lightly foxed. Occasional stray small spots of staining and some offsetting from plates onto opposing pages; a few page edges slightly ragged. In sum, in fact, a sound, clean, and pleasant volume. (19603)

“Kneel Side by Side”
Wise, Daniel. Bridal greetings: A marriage gift,
in which the mutual duties of husband and wife are familiarly illustrated and enforced. New York: Carlton & Phillips, 1852. 16mo. Frontis., 160 pp.
$42.50
Click the images for enlargements.
Second edition, following the first of 1850, of these dicta regarding proper Christian management of the connubial state. “If the reader expects to find highly wrought sentimentality or romantic fancies in the succeeding pages, he had better lay them down, and seek for gratification elsewhere,” (p. 3) — but there is some sweetness here in the exhortations to mutual dedication.
This has a very pretty engraved title-page, acting as frontispiece; between the arched words “Bridal Greetings,” above and below, is a bridal bouquet of emblematic flowers, signed F.E. Jones.
Binding: Publisher's textured red cloth, covers framed in blind, front cover with gilt-stamped rose vignette, spine gilt extra. All edges gilt.
Not in Faxon. Binding as above, cocked, extremities lightly rubbed, front cover with tiny dark spatter; joints each with small instance of insect damage. Front free endpaper with pencilled annotation. Moderate foxing throughout. (30370)
[Wollaston,
William]. The religion of nature delineated. London: Samuel Palmer, 1726.
4to (25.2 cm, 9.9"). 219, [13] pp.
$500.00
Deistic examination of the natural origins of morality, emphasizing
truth as the foundation of virtuous behavior. Benjamin Franklin’s first
professional typesetting experience was his composition work on the 1725 edition
of this popular and influential treatise (Thomas Jefferson had a copy in his
library), and that printing is here reissued with only the title-page date changed.
Franklin published a response in the same year, the Dissertation on Liberty
and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain, in a small edition of perhaps 100 copies.
This
has a very few, very elegant headpieces, tailpieces, and historiated initials.
ESTC T138654. Contemporary calf double-panelled in blind, outer
and innermost panels speckled; blind-stamped corner fleurons, center panel
framed in blind roll; spine with raised bands and painted gilt cross decorations.
Leather worn, with medium-sized abrasions, and cracked over joints; binding
still holding reasonably solidly. Front pastedown showing traces of now-absent
bookplate; title-page with small inked notation in upper outer corner, and
first text page with personal stamp. Pages gently cockled, with a few scattered
spots, but generally clean.

Woolley, Milton. The career of Jesus Christ: Being a supplement to the author’s Science of the Bible. Streator, IL: Free Press Publishing House, 1877. 8vo (20.7 cm, 8.2"). Frontis. (incl. in pagination), 52, [2] pp.; [60 (20 blank)] ff.
$600.00
Uncommon sole edition of this Freethinker interpretation of the New Testament, focusing on an astrological/astronomical analysis in which Jesus personifies “the annual Sun” and the events of the Gospels overall serve as a representation of the phenomena of the seasons. Wooley uses these “discoveries” to claim that Christianity as a religion is “a fraud of the blackest dye” (p. 51), adding that the working classes (former slaves explicitly included) are duped and oppressed by the capitalists (Northern and Southern) who encourage them to besot themselves with religion, whiskey, and tobacco rather than work towards real, liberating knowledge.
Click the image to the left
for an enlargement.
The printed Career is followed in this little volume by an extended manuscript section containing neatly written excerpts from Wooley’s Science of the Bible or an Analysis of the Hebrew Mythology.
Contemporary half calf over textured cloth, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-ruled raised bands; front cover detached, leather scuffed. All page edges marbled. Upper portion of front free endpaper torn away; two front fly-leaves partially excised. Back free endpaper with pencilled owner’s name. Printed portion very slightly age-toned, with faint creasing to first section.

Wycliffe's
Dialogues on Doctrine
Wycliffe, John. Dialogorum libri quatuor, quorum primus divinitatem et ideas tractat, secundus universarum rerum creationem complectitur, tertius de virtutibus vitiisque ipsis contrariis copiosissime loquitur, quartus Romanae Ecclesiae sacramenta, eius pestiferam dotationem ... Francofurti et Lipsiae: Impensis Io. Gottl. Vierlingii, 1753. Small 4to. 318 pp.
$750.00
Click the images for enlargements.
Wycliffe (d. 1384), he of Bible translation fame, found his life complicated by his religious beliefs as they conflicted with accepted church doctrine. This is only the second printing of his four dialogues on church doctrine, the first having occurred in the early years of the Reformation (1525) when it became clear just how much of a precursor of Luther's Wycliffe had been.
Uncommon: OCLC locates only six copies of this in the U.S., including this copy deaccessioned from one of those six reporting institutions.
Provenance: From the collection of 19th-century scholar Dr. Johann August Neander (1789–1850), a convert from Judaism who became a leading scholar of Christian church history.
19th-century German boards covered with black mottled paper. Ex-library with minimal markings; adhesive shelving label to spine, blacked over. Text age-toned but paper very good; a nice wide-margined copy. (16899)
Bulls
Bow Down &
Fiends Are POWERLESS
Ximénez,
Mateo. Compendio
della vita del beato Sebastiano d'Apparizio, laico professo dell'ordine de'
Minori Osservanti del Padre S. Francesco della provincia del Santo Evangelio
nel Messico. Roma: Stamperia Salomoni, 1789. 4to (24.2 cm, 9.5"). xvi pp., port.,
228 pp., [1] f. [with] Coleccion de estampas que representan los principales
pasos, echos, y prodigios del Bto.. Frai Sebastian de Aparizio, relig[ios]o.
franciscano de la provincia del S[an]to Evangelio de Mexico. Dispuesta por el
R.P. Fr. Mateo Ximenez. Roma: por el incisor Pedro Bombelli, 1789. 4to (23.5
cm, 9.125"). Engr. title, [100] of [129] plts.
$7500.00
Click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.
From humble carter to revered and beatified lay Franciscan is not an easy course to pursue in life, but Sebastián de Aparicio (1502-1600) accomplished it in Mexico. Although he was married multiple times, he is said to have remained chaste, deciding in 1574 to abandon his secular lifestyle for that of a lay Franciscan. He is said to have had great ability to manage and calm animals, including near-wild bulls. His life was filled with teaching, begging, and
accomplishing near-impossible things. Offered here is the first edition of Ximénez's biography and the fine album of plates illustrating events in Aparicio's life (see our caption, above).
Finding the "life" and the volume of plates together is uncommon. Only by happenstance did the two volumes come to us within months of one another, from two different continents, allowing us to marry them for this offering. For example, in the U.S., only the Lilly and Bancroft Libraries report owning both works. There is some question as to the number of plates in a complete copy of the Colección: Some sources call for an engraved title-page and 128 plates, while others call for 129 plates. There seems not to have been an edition of the Vita in Spanish.
Vita: Palau 377047; Sabin 105727A. Colección:
Palau 377048; Sabin 105728. Vita: Contemporary Italian binding of
quarter leather with "wallpaper" covered boards; edges of boards seriously
rubbed and exposing underlying paste boards. Internally very good. Colección:
20th-century Spanish quarter leather, with paper in imitation of treed calf
on the covers. Private ownership stamps on title-page. Missing 29 plates; the
other hundred in very good! condition.

Shaker “Statement”
Youngs, Benjamin Seth. The testimony of Christ's second appearing; containing a general statement of all things pertaining to the faith and practice of the Church of God in this latter-day. Albany: E. & E. Hosford, 1810. 12mo. xxxviii, 620, [2] pp.
$450.00
Click the image to the right
for an enlargement.
Stated second edition, “corrected and improved,” of this important early Shaker book about their beliefs and history. First published in Lebanon, Ohio, in 1808. Preface signed in type by David Darrow, John Meacham and Benjamin S. Youngs, of whom the two first-named “signed their names not as authors, but as counsellors, and as sanctioning the work.”
Shaw & Shoemaker 22127. Full original sheep, spine showing flex marks with small chips at extremities and a gilt-stamped leather title-label; first and last leaves with offsetting from leather turn-ins. Short tear at top margin of one leaf, without touching any text; some scattered spots of foxing. Ex-library with (attractive) old pressure-stamp to half-title, five-digit accession number
rubber-stamped on front pastedown and base of p. [iii], evidence that an inked call-number on spine was sometime obscured. A clean, nice, solid copy. (21126)
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