Author: BIBLE. PRIESTLEY (Timothy):
Title: The New Evangelical Family Bible; or, a complete Paraphrase, Exposition, and Commentary on the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments: Containing A New and Beautiful Edition of the whole Sacred Texts of the Old and New Testaments, Correctly and Distinctly Printed at Large: Fully Explained and Illustrated With Copious Notes and Annotations, Doctrinal, Critical, Historical, and Experimental: Wherein the Mis-translations are Corrected; the seeming Contradictions Reconciled; former Errors Rectified, the Objections of Atheists, Deists, Arians, Socinians, and Free-thinkers Answered; difficult Passages Explained; and the Sacred Writings Displayed in their genuine Purity and Lustre. Together with Practical Observations and suitable Reflections on every Chapter, From the Beginning of Genesis to the End of Revelation.... Embellished with Large Elegant Scripture Prints, finely engraved on Copper.
Description: London: Printed and Published under the immediate Inspection of the Author, Sold Wholesale and Retail by Alex Hogg.... And sold by H. D. Symonds..., J. Parsons, and W. Button; W. Ash; J. Murgatroyd; M. Gurney; J.S. Jordan; J. Mathews; J. Sudbury; J. Delahoy, at Deptford-Bridge; and M. Murray: and may be had of all the Booksellers and Newsmen, in London, Westminster, and at Bath, Bristol, Birmingham, Canterbury, Cambridge, [and 25 other towns in England]; and likewise in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France, Holland, Germany, America, &c. no date], [?1793 - 1794]. Folio, 397 x 230 mms., pp. vi, [7], 8 - 1080, weighing 5.7 kg. (12 pounds, 9 ounces), engraved frontispiece and 89 full-age engraved plates and maps, contemporary calf, rebacked, with old spine ornately gilt in compartments and red morocco label laid down, top and base of spine finely restored; covers scratched, but an interesting copy, with a small rectangular red morocco label, 110 x 42 mms., on the front paste-down end-paper, "John Hodges and Sarah Stroud/ Rotherhithe/ 1792," with their succeeding family history on five leaves at the end. A web site on the genealogy of the Hodges-Stroud alliance suggests that they never married, and that Louisa Lancaster Hodges, their daughter was baptised on 30 May 1794 at St. Mary's Rotherhithe, but went by the mother's surname. In fact, one of the records on the end-papers records, "Louisa Lancaster Stroud, the Daughter of the of the Aforementioned, Born May 8th 1794, Twenty Eight Minutes Past vie in the Morning at No. 296 Rotherhithe Street, Rother[hithe] & Baptised 30th May at St Marys Rotherhithe by the Rev. Shearman, Godfather, Mr. Willm Lancaster Snr Godmothers Mrs. Stone and Mrs. Baldwin." Timothy Priestley (1734 - 1814), one of six children of Jonas Priestley and Mary Swift and younger brother to Joseph Priestley (1733 - 1804), trained himself to work with brass and wood to make models for his older brother, but at an early age became interested in the dissenting ministry, and in 1760 was ordained priest to take up a role as past to a congregation at Kipping, Thornton, near Bradford. He eventually wound up in London, as minister of the Jewin Street Independent Church, London. At the same time he also edited the Christian's Magazine, or, Gospel Repository, which was designed to counteract unitarianism, with Selina, Countess of Huntingdon as the magazine's patron. ODNB gives the date of publication of this edition of the Bible as 1792, which is probably accurate, given the evidence of the bookplate. This seems to correspond to ESTC T95041, with copies located at the BL, Wisconsin-Madison, Chicago; and Dunedin in New Zealand What appears to be another issue, ESTC T200457 is located in the John Rylands Library. However, T95041 mentions two lists of subscribers, which are not present in this volume; nor is the portrait of Priestley, which is called for in the "Instructions to the Binder," but the somewhat eccentric placing of the plates and the admonitions about impressing the engravings, etc. suggest that each copy of the Bible was bound separately from the original issue numbers and that no two copies are likely to be exactly the same.

Keywords: Bible family history prose


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