Word Caution, First Edition (4 results)

1st edition. Poor copy bound in stiff-card wrappers; edges somewhat dust-dulled and nicked. Text remains clear and without blemish. Physical description; 16 pp.; 17 cm. Notes; Date is suggested. Subjects; Gratitude Religious aspects Christianity. 3 Kg.

1st edition. Poor copy bound in stiff-card wrappers; edges somewhat dust-dulled and nicked. Text remains clear and without blemish. Physical description; 16 pp.; 17 cm. Notes; Date is suggested. Subjects; Gratitude Religious aspects Christianity. 1 Kg.

Poor condition - sold as is. Probable American first edition (per OCLC). 1-60, [1-12] pages. Hardcover: H 14.5cm x L 9.25cm. Missing front board, front endpapers, and probably a front flyleaf - first leaf present is title. Losses to spine leather with extent portions abraded; contemporary calf leather rear board rather pliable along its rear joint; toning to rear publisher's catalog from laid-in leather strip (perhaps from the missing front board?) at pages [8-9]. Toning and staining to leaves with some wear at edges and small losses at fore-edge corners. Old ink writing/scribbling on page 60; antiquarian ink essay on rear flyleaf by one Mary B. Johnston dated May 15, 1815. Text block still reasonably firm. Twelve page catalog at rear for Quaker bookseller-publisher David Allinson who was a lifelong resident of Burlington which is now a suburb of Philadelphia. A relatively scarce Quaker tract by minister and abolitionist John Woolman which, although its author having passed in 1772, was not published until 1793 in Dublin followed by a London edition in 1794 and a French language translation published in Dublin in 1800. This Burlington, New Jersey imprint is evidently, per a lack of any other OCLC records, the first American edition and is quite rare as OCLC does not cite any physical copies held by member institutions (i.e. microfiche only). Bibliographic reference: Shaw, Shoemaker "Early American Imprints; Second Series" #5615.

First edition of this Quaker tract preaching divine retribution for ungenerous hoarders of wealth. The author, the American anti-slavery campaigner John Woolman (1720-1772), was highly esteemed for his concern for animals, the poor, native Americans, and slaves; Charles Lamb, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and G. M. Trevelyan all wrote favourably of him, and "next to Francis of Assisi, Woolman has become probably the most quoted religious spokesperson for animal concern" (ODNB). The present work, although published two decades after Woolman's death, does appear to be the first printing of the text. A London edition followed in 1794, and an American edition in 1805, with the Fabian Society reprinting the tract at the end of the 19th century. ESTC T80774; Sabin 105210; Smith, J. Descriptive catalogue of Friends' books, II, p. 960. Duodecimo (138 x 87 mm). Near-contemporary sprinkled sheep, red morocco label. Contemporary ownership signature to front free endpaper. Bound without half-title. Library shelf label to spine and stamp to pastedown, inked notation to front free endpaper, a few pencilled lines in margins, stab-holes in gutter. Spine chipped at ends, front joint cracked but holding. A very good copy.