first edition
1852 · Watertown [NY]
by [AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY & LITERATURE] LEWIS, John W. (Eld.); Rev. Arthur Dearing
Watertown [NY]: Ingall's & Stowell's Steam Press, 1852. First Edition. First printing. 12mo (20cm). Publisher's embossed brown cloth gilt; 288pp. Slight external wear, with some roughness to cloth at spine crown; final two pages faintly printed; pronounced foxing to endpapers but text generally tight, fresh, and clean; a Very Good copy. Early ownership signature on title page of "Jos. W. Reade, Clayton [NY?]," dated 1861. Later ownership signature in ink of a "Ruth Wells Jones."
Lewis's biography is the principal source of information on Bowles (1761-1843), an African-American Revolutionary War veteran and itinerant Baptist preacher whose circuit included portions of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and the entirety of Vermont, where he established a Free-Will Baptist Church at Huntington in 1839. The author, John W. Lewis (1809-1861) was a fellow Free-Will Baptist minister, associated, beginning around 1843, with the adventism of William Miller - one of few African American adherents to the Millerite movement. (Inventory #: 81218)
Lewis's biography is the principal source of information on Bowles (1761-1843), an African-American Revolutionary War veteran and itinerant Baptist preacher whose circuit included portions of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and the entirety of Vermont, where he established a Free-Will Baptist Church at Huntington in 1839. The author, John W. Lewis (1809-1861) was a fellow Free-Will Baptist minister, associated, beginning around 1843, with the adventism of William Miller - one of few African American adherents to the Millerite movement. (Inventory #: 81218)