This sixth edition of the Confession of Faith has yet another addition: “Of imposition of hands and Singing of Psalms in publick worship.”

Provenance:  1930s bookplate of John Clyde Oswald, author of (among other biblioworks) Benjamin Franklin, Printer (1917) and Printing in the Americas (1937).

•  Evans 5124; Miller, Benjamin Franklin's Philadelphia Printing, 317; Sabin 61497; Hildeburn, Pennsylvania, 811; ESTC W037515. Griffith has its own Evans citation: Evans 5194.   19th-century half black roan in imitation of morocco, abraded along front joint (outside) and edges of the boards; signed with blind-embossed stamp, “Turner Hamilton, Binder, Philadelphia.” Bookplate as above. Three leaves torn with varying degrees of loss of text: pp. 21–24 (in fact all readable with confidence except for one word), 33–34 (text approximately half missing). Age-toning and spotting; abrasion to rear pastedown. Far from a “perfect copy” and priced as such, certainly a copy withvery pleasing provenance.  (26032)

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for an enlargement.

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 42652.   Removed from a nonce volume; inner edge slightly irregular. Leaves once separated, now re-attached at inner edge with transparent tape. Clean, with only a little darkening along inner margins.  (18246)

Following the obstetrical “Master Piece” portion (which includes a brief “Family Physician” section as well as “The Experienced Midwife”) are “Aristotle's Book of Problems, with other Astronomers, Astrologers, Philosophers, Physicians, &c.” and “Aristotle's Last Legacy, Unfolding the Mysteries of Nature in the Generation of Man.”

•  Shaw & Shoemaker 9860; Austin, Early American Medical Imprints, 75; Bibliotheca Osleriana 1836 (for first ed.). Not in Sabin.   Period-style quarter tan cloth with light blue paper–covered sides, spine with printed paper label. Title-page mounted. Early pencilled ownership inscription along one inner margin. Pages browned and stained, with occasional chipped edges. One leaf with lower outer corner torn away, affecting a few words; last leaf with small repair at upper inner corner, with loss of several letters.  (25215)

The wonderful cataloguers at the American Antiquarian Society write of this edition: “Apparently printed in sections, presumably by John Dixon, Thomas Nicolson and Augustine Davis, rival Richmond printers. The first 16 p. were probably printed in 1791; p. 17-60 in or before April, 1792. Evans, however, postulates that the first 16 p. were printed by Thomas Dobson of Philadelphia in September, 1792, and that Asplund replaced the original gatherings A and B of this edition with Dobson’s corrected sheets. Cf. the prefaces to the 1794 and 1796 editions, with title: The universal register of the Baptist denomination . . .”

This was a standard Baptist stance, if not one universally held; it is striking here as appearing on p. 52, in the part of the pamphlet that Evans and the AAS agree was Richmond-printed.

he is writing from the American “field”

Rare.  We trace fewer than half a dozen copies in U.S. libraries.

•  Evans 26580; Sabin 2222; ESTC W37301.   19th-century half morocco with marbled paper covered boards; binding with label of “John C. Moore, Rochester, NY.” Ex-library with area of discoloration on front board where call number label was removed; bookplate on front pastedown; rubber-stamp on title-page, and small stamp and pencilling on rear of same. Approximately 60% of title-leaf replaced in pen and ink facsimile. Some foxing and age-toning. Not an ideal copy, but given the rarity, a darned good one.  (24456)

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As is the case with the 70 p. issue, the first 16 p. are the same sheets as appear in the original [Richmond, April 1792] edition (Evans 26580), and were probably printed in 1791. Evans, however, postulates that the first 16 p. were printed by Dobson in September 1792. He accounts for their presence in copies of the [Richmond] edition of 60 p. by suggesting that Asplund substituted the corrected Philadelphia sheets for the unsatisfactory sheets of the earlier edition. Cf. the prefaces to the 1794 and 1796 editions, with title: The universal register of the Baptist denomination.”

In addition to its exhaustive account of who's who and what's where, this lists both principles of belief and “Rules of Decorum”; the latter, e.g., forbid laughing and whispering when another member of the association is speaking in assembly. Between the “Rules of Decorum” and the Index, Asplund remarks on the un-Christian “inconsistency” of “Keeping our fellow-creatures in bondage, who have as good a right was we, both to civil and religions liberty — Not only so; but misusing them, concerning common blessings, which certainly is a violation of the rights of nature and inconsistent with a republican government.”

•  Evans 26582; ESTC W37302.   Uncut copy. In 20th-century black buckram binding. Ex-library with bookplate but no other markings.  (24467)

•  ESTC W35823; Evans 35119. Contemporary sheep, spine with red leather title label; abraded with a few wormholes (including one track across spine) and front joint opening. Some pages quite stained, not impairing reading; a couple instances of chipping in margins with loss of letters. Front free endpaper excised. Pp. 433–44 pinned together in the inside margin. Pencil doodlings on half-title and p. [5].