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SEWEL, William, trans : HISTORY OF THE RISE, INCREASE AND PROGRESS, OF THE QUAKERS

SEWEL, William, trans. THE CHRISTIAN PEOPLE CALLED QUAKERS; WITH SEVERAL REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES INTERMIXED. Written originally in Low-Dutch, and also translated into English, by William Sewell. The Third Edition, corrected. Burlington, New-Jersey: Printed and Sold by Isaac Collins, 1774. Folio. xii,812,[16] pp. Text leaves show intermittent light to heavy foxing throughout, though mostly light (the text is definitely readable), with occasional soiling and staining from pressed leaves and flowers. Two leaves (5w & 5Y) have closed tears. A few mid-nineteenth century notations in margins. In an elegantly-designed contemporary American binding of full calf which, despite age and wear, is still rather handsome. The spine has a red morocco label decorated with simple gilt swags at the top and bottom edge, and a gilt single-rule on either side of the five raised bands. In general, the binding is rubbed all over, with a few small stains on the sides, and the fore-corners are rounded. In particular, the lower board has a small area where the leather is skinned; also, the spine has been carefully patched at the crown. A nice copy of an American imprint and binding; scarce thus. (Evans 13607). William Sewel (Dutch, 1654-1720) was a Quaker historian and this is his principal work. It was largely undertaken to correct the misrepresentations of Historia Quakeriana (Amsterdam, 1695) and was first published in Dutch at Amsterdam, 1717. Sewel spent twenty-five years preparing his work and based it upon a mass of correspondence, George Fox's Journal, and, for the public history, Clarendon's Rebellion and Ludlow's Memoirs. Its accuracy has never been impugned, and it remains a classical authority. (D.N.B.)

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