An Apology for the True Christian Divinity: Being an Explanation and Vindication of the Principles and Doctrines of the People Called Quakers

Philadelphia: Joseph Crukshank, 1775. Hardcover. Sm 8vo (8" x 5.5"), original full calf, raised bands, red morocco lettering piece at spine, later paper author label at spine. [i-xii], 574 pp., [18] pp. Bookplate of "Henry Wood Lothrop" on front pastedown. Early ownership inscription in ink on front and back endpapers of "Ebenezer Thornton" with an accompanying manuscript family register of the "Thorntons" with nine entries on the front and verso of ffep and repeated on back free endpaper. CONDITION: Good ex-library, worn cover with cracked front hinge, front cover coming loose, head of spine-edge chipped, library call number on paper label at upper left corner of front cover, two ink library stamps at title, residue of library pocket at rear pastedown.

"Ninth edition in English. "

Quaker Ebenezer Thornton was born in Smithfield, Rhode Island, in 1742, and married Martha (Keith) Cornell (b. 1753) in Scituate in 1767. The couple had five children, all of whom are listed in the family register. Ebenezer died in 1776, while Martha lived well into her 80s, dying in Foster, Rhode Island, in 1842. 

On his maternal side, Henry Wood Lothrop (1841-1904) was descended from the Thornton family, being the grandson of Gideon Thornton, the oldest child of Ebenezer and Martha. On his paternal side, as the grandson of Sarah Adams, Lothrop was a direct descendent of John Quincy Adams and lived in the Adams house in Providence for his entire life.

Quaker publisher "Joseph Crukshank was born in Philadelphia, and served an apprenticeship with Andrew Steuart [an early Philadelphian newspaper publisher]. He was one of the society of Friends, and printed books for them as well as for his own sales. He opened a printing house in 1769, and soon after a book and stationery store, in Third Street, near Market street, in company with Isaac Collins. Their firm was CRUKSHANK & COLLINS. The partnership continued only one year, when it was dissolved, and Collins removed to Burlington. Crukshank took a good stand in Market street, and traded very considerably...Fair in his dealings, punctual in his payments, and amiable in his manners, he was greatly esteemed by his fellow citizens" (Thomas).

REFERENCES: Evans 13821; Hildeburn 3162; ESTC W18485; Thomas, Isaiah. The History of Printing In America, p. 396.