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18mo. vii, [3], 10-174 pp. (foxed and browned, inherent in most American imprints of this date on account of the paper stock). Contemporary reverse sheep, lacking title-label (VERY WORN, spine particularly so, both boards ALMOST DETACHED for which see images). Fair condition only but a complete copy with an excellent Boston provenance. NOT ex-library! FIRST EDITION OF AN OVERLY CHARITABLE BIOGRAPHY OF THE SO-CALLED "APOSTLE OF THE INDIANS" WHOSE MASSACHUSETTS "PRAYER TOWNS" FOR THE CHRISTIANIZATION OF NATIVE AMERICANS ULTIMATELY CAUSED GREAT SUFFERING AND EVEN LED TO "NEAR EXTINCTION" OF CERTAIN TRIBES. The work praises the very considerable efforts of John Eliot (1604-1690), compiler of the Bay Psalm Book and "Apostle to the Indians," to evangelize and educate in the Christian manner Native American communities in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Eliot's creation of "Praying Towns" to convert Native Americans to Christianity and also adopt European custom has been severely criticized by modern historians, i.a. by Joshua David Bellin, who brings to our attention the fact that Eliot's "Praying Towns" were effectively segregated proto-reservations, the consequence of which was the "near extinction" of the Christian Indians of Natick, Mass. by 1848 (see: "Apostle of Removal: John Eliot in the Nineteenth Century" in: The New England Quarterly, March 1996, pp. 3-32). In order to become accepted by the Puritans, converted Native Americans residing in Prayer Towns were forced to give up their own cultures, ways of life, attire, "pagan" religious beliefs, and anything else that the Puritans considered "uncivilized." John Eliot was a trustee of the Boston Library Society which in 1939 merged with the Boston Athenaeum. Interestingly, this first edition of Moore's biography is not listed in the Athenaeum's catalogue. PROVENANCE: "C. Francis 1834 / From Dr. Allyn's Library." The former was Rev. Dr. Convers Francis of Duxbury, Mass., the latter his father-in-law Rev. John Allyn. Francis published a "Memoir" of Allyn in 1836. On p. 7 of said memoir we find that: "Of [Allyn's]library, which was valuable and judiciously selected, he had made an industrious use," and p. 17: "In his large and well-selectedlibrary, which contained many rare and curious books, he took great pleasure, and of its treasures he made diligent use." Allyn donated most of his library to the Harvard Divinity School, but clearly his son-in-law kept some of the books for himself: In the Boston Athenaeum is a copy of the "Collection of the Occasional Papers for the year 1718" (AC4 .C64 1718) which has an identical provenance, and was likewise inscribed by Francis in 1834. Allyn died in 1833, and it would appear that the son-in-law moved quickly to secure books of his liking. Not in Howes, and not to be confused with Howes W-530 which is a different work altogether, namely Wilson, "The Life of John Eliot," published in Edinburgh six years later.
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