THE KENTUCKY REVIVAL, OR, A SHORT HISTORY OF THE LATE EXTRAORDINARY OUT-POURING OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD, IN THE WESTERN STATES OF AMERICA...WITH A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE ENTRANCE AND PROGRESS OF WHAT THE WORLD CALL SHAKERISM, AMONG THE SUBJECTS OF THE LATE REV

by McNemar, Richard:

Price: $13,500.00
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Cincinnati: From the press of John W. Browne, 1807.. 119,[1]pp. [bound with:] OBSERVATIONS ON CHURCH GOVERNMENT...TO WHICH IS ADDED, THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF THAT REVEREND BODY.... Cincinnati: From the press of John W. Browne, 1807. 23pp. 12mo. Original floral- patterned paper over a calf backstrip. Most of the spine paper perished, boards stained and worn. Titlepage stained, carrying through in lesser fashion to the following eight leaves. Bottom inch of titlepage torn away, not affecting the imprint or any text. Small paper flaw in the leaf containing pp.87-88, costing a few letters but not affecting the sense of the text. Uniform tanning, a few signatures loosening. On the whole, still an attractive copy, in original condition. In a half morocco and cloth clamshell box. A major rarity of American religious texts, this is the first edition of the first full- length book published by the Shakers. It is of extreme importance as an eyewitness account of the rise of the Shaker movement in the West, as well as a source of Shaker doctrine. MacLean calls McNemar the "father of Shaker literature," and Bestor calls this work "the basic source on Shaker expansion to the West." McNemar was originally a Presbyterian, but later converted to Shakerism and worked hard to establish that faith on the American frontier. "This is a first- hand account by a leader of the Kentucky Revival, one of the first western Shaker converts, which has been quoted extensively by later authors. McNemar describes frontier revivals, the Presbyterian schism, beginnings of Shakerism in the West, and early Shaker relations with the Indians" - Richmond. McNemar is also the author of the second tract included here, OBSERVATIONS ON CHURCH GOVERNMENT..., but is only identified on the titlepage as the "Presbyter of Springfield." Springfield was a small community located eleven miles north of Cincinnati. It is a separate work from THE KENTUCKY REVIVAL..., with its own titlepage, and separate pagination and signatures. The text explains the tenets of the Shaker faith. Thomson calls THE KENTUCKY REVIVAL... "very scarce. This was one of the earliest books printed in Cincinnati." It is very rare on the market indeed. Streeter was only able to acquire an 1808 Pittsfield reprint, and no copies of this first edition are located in auction records over the past thirty years. Rare and important. AII (OHIO) 64, 70. THOMSON 767. MACLEAN 65. RICHMOND 929, 1333. RUSK II:251-252. WILKIE 90, 97. BESTOR, BACKWOODS UTOPIAS, p.256. COLEMAN 992. HOWES M177, "aa." SABIN 43605, 89893. SHAW & SHOEMAKER 12969, 13571.

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