43 FOX, George. Manuscript epistle to Quaker friends initialled by the founder of the movement. [1653] the founder of quakerism communicates with his followers A remarkable survival from the early years of Quakerism, being an unrecorded variant of George Fox’s Epistle 40, initialled by Fox in his characteristic style. Such epistles are exceedingly scarce in commerce. The slip is in an unknown hand, docketed on the verso as a true copy – “this is copied” – and authenticated by Fox with his initials. “The Quakers seized every opportunity to spread their message through the written word, an aspect of their work to which their meetings, especially at the national and provincial levels, accorded diligent attention. This element of their work involved handwritten epistles as well as printed books and tracts. These epistles were often copied and disseminated to other meetings, thus providing Friends with a personal, inexpensive means of communicating with one another” (Greaves, p. 299). The text as written here reads: “I doe you all round and charge and commaund in ye living God of Life to bee faithfull in ye and asurd of the Life of God, which hee hath you given, and watch over friends”, asking that the “Garden of ye Lord may be dressed by you in his wisdome”, bidding the Lord “keep you all in his spirit” and “see yt friends meete togeither, and be fed together, in ye spirit . . . of ye Lord”, insisting that this is “ye word of ye lorde for yours this is”. The text as preserved in Fox’s published works reads “Friends, – I warn and charge you all, to be faithful in the measure of life of God, which he have given you . . . that the garden of the Lord may be dressed, and ye in his wisdom preserved and kept. The mighty power of the Lord keep you all in his spirit . . . this is the counsel of the Lord to you” (see Works of George Fox , 1831, p. 49). Brown ink on a slip of laid paper (197 × 71 mm), partial watermark. Seven lines of text recto, signed “GFF”, docket text verso, “this is copied 1653”, initialled in Fox’s hand “G.ff”. Stain to middle of text though still discernible, a few old folds, a little loss to bottom edge and left hand corner, not affecting text. ¶ Richard L. Greaves, God’s Other Children , 1997. £2,500 [118609]
44 FRANKLIN, Benjamin. Political, Miscellaneous and Philosophical Pieces; arranged under the following heads . . . Now first collected, with explanatory plates, notes and an index to the whole. London: printed for J. Johnson, 1779 the scarcer and more desirable quarto impression
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