PRIESTCRAFT DEFENDED. A SERMON OCCASIONED BY THE EXPULSION OF SIX YOUNG GENTLEMEN FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. FOR Praying, Reading and Expounding the Scriptures. Humbly Dedicated to Mr. V- - - - C - - - - r and the H- - - - ds of H - - - - S. By their Humble Servant, THE SHAVER. THE SIXTH EDITION. by [Macgowan, John 1726-1780]

Good. LONDON, Printed. PHILADELPHIA, Re-printed and Sold, by William and Thomas Bradford, At the LONDON COFFEE HOUSE. M.DCC.LXIX. Octavo, 25 pages. This copy has been rebound in nineteenth century marbled boards and quarter red goatskin, title and date stapmed on the spine. Binders stamp: Bound by Launder. Two initial blanks and eleven concluding blanks were added by the binder. The verso of p. 25 is blank, with FINIS appearing at the foot of p. 25. A manuscript H appears in the upper left-hand corner of the title-page. The photographic book plate of Thomas B. Criss, with its famous tribute to early printers and early printing devices is signed T.B.C. fect. and dated Jan. 1902. There is a pencil annotation T.B. Criss 1901 on the recto of the initial blank. Authorship is attributed to John Macgowan in the Dictionary of National Biography. A spirited and at times caustic defense of evangelical house-worship as well as Methodism. The author is self-described on the title-page as a shaver and further identified as a barber in the text. Evans, 11320. ESTC, Cit. No. W21157. Slight foxing of the title-page, front cover re-enforced, but still a generally good surviving copy of a rare imprint from one of the most important printers in Colonial America.