[Rarebooks] fa: [DANIEL DEFOE?] REMARKABLE PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF A PRIVATE GENTLEMAN - 1765

[ArCh]

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Ardwight Chamberlain
Ann Arbor, MI, USA

[Daniel Defoe (attrib.):] An Account of Some Remarkable Passages in the Life of a Private Gentleman: with Reflections thereon. In three parts. Relating to Trouble of Mind, some violent Temptations, and a Recovery; In order to awaken the Presumptuous, and encourage the Despondent. Left under his own Hand, to be communicated to the Public after his Decease. Glasgow: Printed for and sold by Robert Banks, bookseller in Stirling, MDCCLXV [1765]. Small 8vo (17.5) in early/period full vellum tooled and lettered in gilt, marbled endpapers, all page edges gilt; xvi + [23]-250 + [2] pp. (erratic pagination as issued, but the text and register are continuous); with a list of subscribers. ESTC T163882.

Often attributed to Daniel Defoe, this admonitory memoir, first published in 1708, purports to narrate the author's own journey, through a harrowing gauntlet of spiritual trials and "tormenting fancies," from sin and despondency to a state of grace. Along the way, and speaking from personal experience, he cautions the reader against such "violent Temptations" as: vanity; prophane jesting; lying; ill company and bad acquaintance; assignations; neglecting public worship; inobservance of divine providence; injections from Satan; and a "school-boy vice" alluded to at great length, but so obscurely that one can only conjecture he's talking about what schoolboys of today call "fapping."

This Glasgow edition is very uncommon: ESTC locates only four copies in the UK (NL of Scotland, Oxford, Birmingham, Dr. Williams's Library) and only one in the U.S. (Yale). The list of subscribers includes the names of many notable, or at least literate, Scots of the day, as well as their places of residence.

Vellum binding somewhat dust-soiled, a crease to the front cover; contents evenly toned, a few small spots, closed tear to one leaf of the contents, else clean and sound, firmly bound.