1764. · London
by [Secker, Thomas]
London, 1764.. 68pp. Antique-style half calf and marbled boards. Top inner corner of titlepage with loss, replaced with paper, affecting only "A" in "Answer." Light foxing and soiling, primarily to outer leaves. Good. Thomas Secker (1693-1768) was Archbishop of Canterbury when he wrote this response to Boston minister Jonathan Mayhew's attack on the Church of England. The issue at stake was the appointment of bishops in North America, which Secker thought were vital to church governance in the colonies. "[Thomas] Hollis co-ordinated opposition on both sides of the Atlantic to what were considered to be Anglican encroachments and he encouraged the Boston congregationalist Jonathan Mayhew to write a polemic against the designs of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts in 1763. In response Secker tried to put the case, as firmly and as judiciously as possible, for the creation of a bishopric in his AN ANSWER..." - DNB. The question of Anglican bishops in America was a burning issue not often included in modern thinking about American colonial grievances, but it was of great moment at the time, hence Adams' inclusion of this pamphlet in his bibliography of Revolutionary War political arguments. AMERICAN CONTROVERSY 64-17. ESTC T97686.
(Inventory #: WRCAM46187)