A portraiture of quakerism, as taken from a view of the moral education, discipline, peculiar customs, religious principles, political and civil œconomy, and character, of the Society of Friends.
New York.
Samuel Stansbury , 1806.
First American edition.
8vo.
In three volumes. 365pp; viii, [2], 382pp; vii, [1], 372pp. With an engraved portrait frontispiece to Vol. I. Half-title to volume II only. Recent gilt-tooled half calf, contrasting red calf lettering-pieces, marbled boards. Browning and spotting to text.
The first American edition of English abolitionist Thomas Clarkson's (1760-1846) 'portraiture' of the Quaker faith. Clarkson dedicated his life to the abolition of the slave trade, joining the abolitionist movement founded by British and American Friends, after producing an essay on the horrors of slavery at university, later republished as a pamphlet entitled An essay on the slavery and commerce of the human species, particularly the African, translated from a Latin Dissertation (1786). He was one of the founding members of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, established in 1787. Clarkson's abolitionist work put him in close contact with many influential Quakers, leading to the production of this work, in which Quaker beliefs, traditions, marriage practices and characters are catalogued. Although never officially a member of the Society of Friends, he renounced his Anglican orders by 1795, and throughout his political career, displayed great sympathy for the Quaker cause.
£ 250.00
Antiquates Ref: 29101
