1825 Memoirs of Rev. John Newton & Selected Works (Custom Bound Collection)

Author: Rev. R. Cecil, Grace Kennedy, et al.

Publisher: Various (London & Edinburgh)

Publication Date: 1825–1833

Binding: Half-Leather over Marbled Boards

Item Description

This fascinating volume presents a unique Sammelband—a custom collection of individually printed works thoughtfully bound together by an early owner. Anchored by a foundational biography of the famed abolitionist and "Amazing Grace" author John Newton, this volume also curates three early 19th-century moral and educational texts.

This single volume contains four complete, distinct works:

Item 1: Memoirs of the Rev. John Newton... with General Remarks on his Life, Connections, and Character by the Rev. R. Cecil (London: William Baynes and Son, 1825). A cornerstone biography of the former slave ship captain turned prominent clergyman. 

Item 2: The Catechist; A Fragment. Parts First and Second (Edinburgh: William Oliphant, 1827). An early 19th-century religious text.

Item 3: Anna Ross, A Story for Children by Grace Kennedy, Fifth Edition (Edinburgh: William Oliphant, 1833). A popular didactic tale of the era. 

Item 4: The Nursery Plutarch by the Authoress of "Charlie Seymour" (Edinburgh: Waugh and Innes, 1833). A scarce children's historical text, 

Unique Provenance & Annotations

What truly elevates this volume into a one-of-a-kind collector's piece is the extensive, deeply personal contemporary manuscript marginalia.

Surrounding the steel-engraved frontispiece portrait of Newton, an early owner has carefully inscribed moving scriptural passages in sepia ink. Most notably, the inscription includes the famous biblical line so inextricably linked to Newton's own hymn Amazing Grace: "Whereas I was blind now I see."

Further handwritten annotations and poetic verses frame the dramatic engraved title page. This engraving depicts a harrowing storm at sea—a powerful visual tribute to the near-shipwreck in 1748 that catalyzed Newton’s legendary spiritual awakening.

Book measures 5.5"x3.75"
Some light scattered foxing, 2 pages near the end of the book, part of the Plutarch Nursery, with loss to corners effecting some of the text. Bound in 3/4 leather with some light wear. For a book nearly 200 years old it's in great condition.