(AMERICAN IMPRINTS, EARLY). BRAINERD, DAVID.

MIRABILIA DEI INTER INDICOS, OR . . . DIVINE GRACE DISPLAY'D AMONGST THE INDIANS.

(Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by William Bradford, 1746]). 194 x 117 mm (7 5/8 x 4 5/8"). viii, 232, 231-253, [1] pp. (pagination numbered as in British Library copy). With the half title. FIRST EDITION.

Pleasing recent retrospective full dark brown calf, raised bands, two red morocco labels. Sabin 7340; Howes 717. Many (but not all) of the leaves moderately browned, mostly from offsetting (one gathering rather spotted), but generally quite clean, reasonably fresh, and considerably better internally than the typical early American imprint, and in an unworn retrospective binding.

This work is important both as an early production of a noted early American printer and as an insight into the attitudes of English colonists towards the Native Americans and into the strained relations between the two groups. Our account by Puritan missionary David Brainerd (1718-47) of his efforts to convert American Indians to Christianity was published at the expense of the Society in Scotland for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge, Brainerd's sponsor in this work. It is written in the form of a journal, starting on June 19, 1745, the day Brainerd set off for Crosweeksung, New Jersey, to "Christianize" the tribes in that area. His techniques included preaching hell-fire and brimstone and catechizing his prospective converts in the tenets of Christian doctrine. At the end of the book Brainerd discusses the chief obstacles he has encountered in his missionary work; chief among them is the "immorality and vicious behaviour of many [colonists] who are call'd Christians." Brainerd had little success in winning souls, and unfortunately he infected many of those he wished to save with the tuberculosis that took his own life at age 29. As the ANB puts it, "Brainerd preached the Word of Life, but he spoke with a poisoned breath." This work was printed by William Bradford (1721-91, known as the "patriot-printer of 1776"), a prominent colonial printer and a hero of the War of Independence. According to the ANB, he was one of those leading the resistance to the Stamp Tax, "he signed the Non-Importation Resolutions of 1765, he supported a proposed continental congress, and his paper carried the serpent and 'Unite or Die' slogan from July 1774 until October 1775. The London Coffee-House, which Bradford owned and frequented, became the Revolution's unofficial Philadelphia headquarters. A leading Son of Liberty, he printed the most extreme material opposing the Crown; he was the first to publish Thomas Paine's 'Crisis' essays." (CJM1101)