[Philadelphia: 1783].
Price: $2,500.00
Unbound. First American edition. Untrimmed folio (8.25” x 13”). pp. [1] 2-4. Signed in letterpress: “William Tuke.” With a second variant letter under a shortened caption title addressed to “the next Yearly-Meeting to be held in Philadelphia, for Pennsylvania, New-Jersey, &c.” A docket title is also printed on page four: “The London Epistles, For 1783.” Three slight old horizontal folds, near fine. This *Epistle* addresses current events and the issue of slavery: “[The Friends] fervent labour for the restoration of the poor enslaved Africans to their due liberty; is still continued … as it is for the removal of an oppression supported by cruelty for the sake of a corrupt interest, in direct opposition to the spirit and precepts of the Gospel, and even repugnant to humanity.” / “… the subject of the slave trade … was solidly before us, and a weighty concern was renewed among us to bear our testimony against a commerce attended with so much iniquity and cruelty …” A beautiful copy in fine condition. *ESTC* and *OCLC* together locate a total of only five copies. (*Bristol* B5708; *Shipton & Mooney* 44367; *ESTC* W34091).
Item #425820
