[Rarebooks] FS - Officia Sacrata 1742

[GREENFIELD BOOKS]

*ELLISTON, Robert (compiler). /OFFICIA SACRATA: OR, DEVOTIONAL OFFICES 
IN THE RETIRED ACTS OF DIVINE ADORATION/.* Bound in comtemporary full 
leather, with marbled endpapers and foredges, engraved head and 
tail-pieces, and a ribbon marker. NP [London ?]. 1742. 1st edition, 8vo, 
Pagination: [8], vii, [5], 224. "Copperplate" inscription and signature, 
dated 1811, to first blank free endpaper.

Containing "Retired Acts of Divine Adoration, with Pious Instructions 
prefixed, for Rectifying the Dispositions therein: And useful Sentences 
adjoin'd, Concluding the Parts thereof. Collected from the Sacred 
Writings, and Orthodox Writers of the Church." The inscription page is 
addressed "To the Worthy Professors of the Church of England, these 
Offices Are inscrib'd by Robert Elliston; the Compiler, In regard of 
their Orthodox Character." A very scarce item; no copies being found in 
WorldCat, or CoPac, although the ESTC lists a copy, which it suggests 
was printed in London. Little is known about Elliston other than he was 
apparently born in England in 1652, and died in 1756, and was for a time 
"Comptroller of His Majestie's Custom" in New York. According to the 
catalogue of the library of Benjamin Franklin, a copy was presented to 
Franklin by Elliston and inscribed to the "Gent. of Philadlphia". Albert 
Mathews, in a 1923 article which appeared in the Publications of the 
Colonial Society of Massachusetts, suggests that this title may have 
been printed in New York by James Parker (no publishing information is 
shown in our copy). The signature on the front endpaper appears to be 
that of Roger Viets (the younger), a clergyman from Digby, Nova Scotia, 
who writes that he bought this book "of Joseph Burrel" (probably 
Burrell) for five shillings.

The boards are well-worn and the leather is mottled, with most of the 
gilt embellishment now flaked away. The joints are weak but holding. The 
contents are remarkably clean and tight, the text printed on rather 
stiff paper for the age and type of book. Some initial letters are 
rubricated. The hinges are tight. Overall, in good condition.

Price: $350.00.

Terms of sale - payment by check or credit card. Postage and packing 
charge is $7.50. Returnable within seven days of receipt if not as 
described.

 
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