The Prodigal Continent and her prodigal son and missionary; Or, The Adventures, Conversion, and African Labours of the rev. james r. newby. With special chapters on africa and its condition.
London.
Morgan & Scott, [1885].
Second edition.
8vo.
viii, 222pp, [10]. With a portrait frontispiece and a terminal catalogue of publisher's advertisements. Original publisher's red cloth, stamped in gilt and black. A trifle rubbed and marked, spine sunned. Internally clean and crisp.
The second edition, printed in the same year as the first, of a hagiographic record of evangelical exploits of African American missionary James Newby (b. c. 1843, d. after 1884).
At the age of eleven, Newby, a native of Connecticut and son of a freed slave, was sent into the navy as an apprentice, seemingly as punishment for fire-raising. After three uneventful years he returned home where he became engaged in slave running to Canada. Newby led an itinerant life, notably joining the original line-up of the infamous Christy's Minstrels and sailing with the USS Niagara when she laid the first transatlantic telegraph cable. In the American Civil War, he fought in the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. In the 1860s he toured Europe, and in Edinburgh was converted by Revivalists. He subsequently studied at Henry Grattan Guinness' Harley House missionary training college in London, after which he journeyed to Nigeria, Cameroon, and Liberia to spread the gospel. In 1879, he returned to England due to poor health where he related the colourful events of his storied life to McHardie who published the present sensational account, the primary source of Newby's life, in an effort to raise funds to assist both Newby and his mission.
In Europe as the Other: External Perspectives on European Christianity (2013), Judith Becker and Brian Stanley cite the book as 'a questionable account which invites closer scholarly enquiry'.
£ 750.00
Antiquates Ref: 31442
At the age of eleven, Newby, a native of Connecticut and son of a freed slave, was sent into the navy as an apprentice, seemingly as punishment for fire-raising. After three uneventful years he returned home where he became engaged in slave running to Canada. Newby led an itinerant life, notably joining the original line-up of the infamous Christy's Minstrels and sailing with the USS Niagara when she laid the first transatlantic telegraph cable. In the American Civil War, he fought in the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. In the 1860s he toured Europe, and in Edinburgh was converted by Revivalists. He subsequently studied at Henry Grattan Guinness' Harley House missionary training college in London, after which he journeyed to Nigeria, Cameroon, and Liberia to spread the gospel. In 1879, he returned to England due to poor health where he related the colourful events of his storied life to McHardie who published the present sensational account, the primary source of Newby's life, in an effort to raise funds to assist both Newby and his mission.
In Europe as the Other: External Perspectives on European Christianity (2013), Judith Becker and Brian Stanley cite the book as 'a questionable account which invites closer scholarly enquiry'.
