[SLAVERY - WEST INDIES] SERMONS ON SEVERAL SUBJECTS 1783 BEILBY PORTEUS FIRST EDITION

[PORTEUS (Beilby, Bishop of Chester)]. Sermons on Several Subjects. London: Printed for T. Payne and Son, at the Mews Gate, and T. Cadell, in the Strand, 1783.

FIRST EDITION; leather-bound, hardcover, octavo (21.5 x 13 x 3 cm), pp. xi, [1], 429. English text. Bound in contemporary half calf, gilt bands to smooth spine, black morocco lettering-piece, marble paper-covered boards, initial and terminal blanks, printed footnotes. Condition: GOOD. Joints and covers rubbed. Interior very well-preserved. Previous owner details inked to front pastedown. Scarce.

Notes: The first edition is rare in commerce. Beilby Porteus (1731-1809), successively Bishop of Chester and of London, was a Church of England reformer and a leading abolitionist, who was the first Anglican in a position of authority to seriously challenge the Church's position on slavery. The work includes 'The civilization, improvement, and conversion of the Negroe-slaves in the British islands recommended.'.