Description

Meditations or Considerations Upon Christian Truths, Duties and Privileges, for Every Day in the Year (1 and 2) By Rev. John Stephens 1813-1814 first edition two-volume set B.R. Goakman (London) period 5 1/4 x 8 1/4 inches tall full leather bound, gilt titles over black leather labels to spines, viii, 416, 440 pp. Volume 1 was issued in 1813, Volume 2 in 1814. Covers of both volumes are rubbed, bumped, stained and edgeworn. Contemporaneous owner ('George Taylor') name to front pastedown. Volume 1 lacks front free-endpaper, with a contemporaneous ink notation to the title page margin (evidently Rev. Stephens' entry for 'June 21 - Justification' was worthy of note). Final signature in Volume 1 (pages 409-416 plus blank) barely hanging on by a thread, there is heavy creasing to these pages and a prior owner has pasted a clipping on 'longevity' to the rear free-endpaper. Pages 203-206 in Volume 1 and the final pages to Volume 2 (pages 439-440) are similarly partly detached but still holding, and the rear free-endpaper of Volume 2 is detached but present. One page in Volume 2 has a 3 1/2 inch closed tear with a tape repair to the margin (no loss of text). Scattered foxing throughout, especially at prelims. Scattered instances of staining or creasing, none impacting text. George Taylor's nineteenth century signature to the top corner of a couple of interior pages. Otherwise, a good, complete copy of a rare Methodist title from the early nineteenth century. Rev. John Stephens (1772 - 1841) was a prominent Methodist ('Wesleyan') minister from 1792 through his death, and served as president of the Methodist Conference in 1827. His other published works were mostly sermons. This book of daily meditations, Rev. Stephens tells us on the first page of Volume 1, was gleaned from a work 'published about half a century ago, by a pious and learned Catholic Bishop,' with Stephens having made 'such alterations as should adapt it to the use and benefit of all Protestant Christians.' This is almost certainly referring to the extremely popular 1753 publication, often reprinted, of Meditations for every Day of the Year by English Roman Catholic Bishop Richard Challoner (1691 - 1781), a leading figure of English Catholicism during the greater part of the eighteenth century, perhaps most famous for his revision of the Douay Rheims translation of the Bible. As with many such devotionals, very few copies of this early Methodist work survive. Partial or complete copies were only found in OCLC at the British Library, University of Oxford, Falvey Memorial Library at Villanova University and United Library at University of Illinois. Stephens' second son, also named John Stephens (1806 - 1850), was a well-known writer, polemicist and editor in England who was an editor and newspaper owner in the early days of South Australia.