[BENEZET, Anthony (1713-1784), compiler and contributor.] A Collection of Devotional Tracts… [Philadelphia: B. Franklin and D. Hall. Germantown: Christopher Saur, 1759-1760.]

“The Holy Book / So Be Read” (contemporary inscription on inside front cover)

Presentation copy of Benezet’s Quaker abolitionist compendium, and a Franklin imprint. Includes the rare second edition of Benezet's famous tract: "Observations on the inslaving ... of Negroes." Inscribed in the recipient’s hand on the front flyleaf: “This book is the Gift of Mr. Anthony Benezet to William Anderson, October 12^th 1760.”

Anthony Benezet was one of the most active and effective of the early Quaker abolitionists in Philadelphia. He founded the first public school for girls in North America and provided free evening classes to Black students out of his home in the 1750s. He would go on to found the Negro School at Philadelphia (1770) and one of the world's first anti-slavery societies, the Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage (1775). In the spring of 1760, Benezet arranged for this publication, a collection of tracts intended for distribution “in ye back Parts of Maryland, Virginia & N. Carolina … and Connecticut” (quoted in Brookes, Friend Anthony Benezet, 1937, pp.235ff). Intended for a frontier readership and printed in an edition of only 500, this book is understandably rare. There is only one copy in the auction records of RBH for the past 50 years.

“This volume-title is ascribed to the Franklin and Hall press on the evidence of the Caslon type used. Of the nine items listed on the title-page, the first, fifth, sixth, and seventh had been previously printed by Benjamin Franklin and David Hall, all in Caslon type. The remainder had been printed by Christopher Saur, who owned no Caslon letter” (Miller). The nine tracts present in this work are: An Extract of the Spirit of Prayer; A Discourse on Mistakes concerning Religion; Christ’s Spirit & Christian Strength; The Stumbling Stone; The Doctrine of Baptism; The Trial of Spirits; The Liberty of Flesh and Spirit Distinguished; Observations on Enslaving, Importing, and Purchasing of Negroes, &c.; and The Uncertainty of a Death-bed Repentance, chiefly by William Dell, also W. Law, Thomas Hartley, J. Rutty and Anthony Benezet. Miller 730.

Octavo (187 x 124mm). Each tract with a separate title-page except for the last one. (Intermittent browning and some dampstain, heaviest around the sixth tract.) Contemporary blind-ruled sheep (old rebacking, endpapers with a little worming and wear). Provenance: William Anderson (presentation inscription and ownership signature on title-page) – Samuel Jones (early ownership signature on p.3) – R. Atkinson (ownership signature dated 1827) – R.H. Kinson (ownership signature dated 1890).