[NEWTON, JOHN]. The Memoirs of the Rev. John Newton, Some Time a Slave in Africa, Afterwards Curate of Olney, Bucks, and Rector of St. Mary Woolnoth, London: In a Series of Letters, Written by Himself, to the Rev. Dr. Hawes, Rector of Aldwinckle, Northamptonshire. London: Dean and Murray, 1822.
A NEW EDITION. Leather-bound; hardcover; duodecimo (14.5 x 9 x 1.5 cm); pp. 150. English text. Bound in contemporary quarter leather; marbled paper-covered boards; engraved frontispiece. Condition: FAIR. Upper joint cracked and holding by the cords. Spine ends rubbed. Interior with some light staining. Without previous ownership markings. Scarce.
Notes: A rare edition of Newton's memoirs. John Newton (1725-1807) was an English seaman, Anglican clergyman, former slave trader and abolitionist who, after a near-death storm at sea and years of reflection on his role in the slave trade, underwent a profound Christian conversion. His past as a trafficker in human lives deeply shaped his theology of sin and redemption, culminating in his hymn "Amazing Grace" – a testimony of God's mercy that saved a "wretch" like him.
