The Black Non=Conformist, discover'd in More Naked Truth: proving that Excommunication and Confirmation, The Two Great Episcopal Appurtenances; And Diocesan Bishops, Are (as now in Use) of Human Make and Shape; by Edmund Hickeringill - 1682

London : G Larkin, Richard Janeway, 1682 An extremely rare work by Hickeringill - a man with an interesting history. HIckeringill - 1631-1708 is recorded as fighting as a Roundhead in the Civil War, moving to and living in Jamaica, and being ordained after brief spells as a Baptist, Quaker, and Deist. He became Rector of All-Saints in Colchester and had to pay substantial damages to the Bishop of London for slander - being excluded from his living for 3 years as a consequence. He was convicted of forgery in 1707. This work is 'dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury, with all modesty and submission'. It covers excommunication and the various causes of it. To say that it is argumentative is an understatement. A sample from the title page reads 'shewing also that, religion, religion, that should have been the world's great blessing, is become the plague of mankind, and the curse of christendom,...' . In old but not contemporary black leather and marbled board binding with gilt lettering to spine. With title page, dedication, Introduction (these total 18pp), chapters, true table of fees, and postcript. With decorative initial capitals.The binding is sound but with wear to spine joints, edges and corners. Internally there is some damp staining to the title page, and occasionally to the bottom outer corner of pages, not affecting text. The odd page has slight loss from the bottom corner. There is occasional pencil annotation in the margins. With an impressive red leather bookplate of Edward ?Hailstone, and the small bookplate of the Reverend Wm Major Scott MA on the front pastedown, and a pencil signature to the fep. Pages generally clean but with some browning and marking.