"A VIEW OF HIM AS A STATESMAN, WHO ACTED UPON CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLE IN DIRECT OPPOSITION TO THE USUAL POLICY OF THE WORLD"

(PENN, William) CLARKSON, Thomas. Memoirs of the Private and Public Life of William Penn. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1813. Two volumes. Octavo, 19th-century full mottled calf gilt, elaborately gilt-decorated spines, raised bands. $950.

First edition of this life of the founder of Pennsylvania written by an eminent abolitionist, handsomely bound.

Prominent anti-slavery activist Thomas Clarkson, though not a member of the Society of Friends himself, worked extensively with Quakers in the abolitionist movement and published A Portraiture of Quakerism in 1806 before writing this admiring biography of Penn—which includes the first published account of Penn's legendary "Great Treaty," based on information supplied directly by Benjamin West. Although the work received some criticism at the time for its florid, moralizing tone, it was "the first scholarly treatment of its subject" (ODNB) and enjoyed enough popular success to go through several subsequent printings. An American edition was published in Philadelphia in the same year. Sabin 13491. Armorial bookplates; old cataloguing slip affixed to front free endpaper of volume I.

Scattered spots of light foxing; minor rubbing to joints and corners. A very handsome copy.