American Biography: Or, an Historical Account of Those Persons Who Have Been Distinguished in America, as Adventurers, Statesmen, Philosophers, ... Other Remarkable Characters of 2; Volume 1
(The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration a...)
The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars.
Rich in titles on English life and social history, this collection spans the world as it was known to eighteenth-century historians and explorers. Titles include a wealth of travel accounts and diaries, histories of nations from throughout the world, and maps and charts of a world that was still being discovered. Students of the War of American Independence will find fascinating accounts from the British side of conflict.
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The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification:
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British Library
W037186
An intended third volume was never published. Imprint of v. 2 varies: Printed at Boston, by Isaiah Thomas and E.T. Andrews, sold by them, and the other booksellers in Boston; by I. Thomas, Worcester; by Thomas, Andrews & Penniman, Albany; and by Thomas,
Printed at Boston: by Isaiah Thomas and Ebenezer T. Andrews. Faust's statue, no 45, Newbury Street, MDCCXCIV. 1794-1798 2v.; 8°
A Discourse, Intended to Commemorate the Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus; Delivered at the Request of the Historical Society in Massachusetts, on the 23d Day of October, 1792
(The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration a...)
The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars.
Delve into what it was like to live during the eighteenth century by reading the first-hand accounts of everyday people, including city dwellers and farmers, businessmen and bankers, artisans and merchants, artists and their patrons, politicians and their constituents. Original texts make the American, French, and Industrial revolutions vividly contemporary.
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The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification:
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British Library
W020181
"Ode for the 23d of October, 1792."--p. 56-58. Advertisement for Belknap's works, "sold in Boston by James White; in Philadelphia by Thomas Dobson; and in London by Charles Dilly," p. 133-134.
Boston: Printed at the Apollo Press, in Boston, by Belknap and Hall, State Street, MDCCXCII. 1792. 132, 4 p.; 8°
Dissertations on the Character, Death & Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the Evidence of His Gospel; With Remarks on Some Sentiments Advanced in a Book Intitled the Age of Reason
(The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration a...)
The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars.
The Age of Enlightenment profoundly enriched religious and philosophical understanding and continues to influence present-day thinking. Works collected here include masterpieces by David Hume, Immanuel Kant, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, as well as religious sermons and moral debates on the issues of the day, such as the slave trade. The Age of Reason saw conflict between Protestantism and Catholicism transformed into one between faith and logic -- a debate that continues in the twenty-first century.
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The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification:
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British Library
W020230
Running title: 'Dissertations on Christianity'. The final leaf contains a copyright statement.
Boston: From the Apollo Press, in Boston, by Joseph Belknap, 1795. 140, 2 p.; 12°
An Election Sermon, Preached Before the General Court, of New-Hampshire, at Portsmouth, June 2, 1785. by Jeremy Belknap. two Lines from Gov. Winthrop
(The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration a...)
The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars.
The Age of Enlightenment profoundly enriched religious and philosophical understanding and continues to influence present-day thinking. Works collected here include masterpieces by David Hume, Immanuel Kant, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, as well as religious sermons and moral debates on the issues of the day, such as the slave trade. The Age of Reason saw conflict between Protestantism and Catholicism transformed into one between faith and logic -- a debate that continues in the twenty-first century.
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The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification:
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British Library
W031821
Two states of the title page noted in the BAL. In the first, the quotation reads .." always the best." In the second, this has been corrected by overprinting to read .." always the least." -.
Portsmouth: New-Hampshire: Printed by Melcher and Osborne, M, DCC, LXXXV. 1785. 48p.; 8°
Jeremy Belknap was an American clergyman and historian who wrote the History of New Hampshire, published in three volumes between 1784 and 1792.
Background
Jeremy Belknap was born on June 4, 1744, in Boston, Massachussets. He was christened Jeremiah by his parents, Joseph and Sarah (Byles) Belknap, but later adopted the abbreviated form of his first name. His father was a leather-dresser and furrier; his mother was a niece of Rev. Mather Byles.
Education
Jeremy prepared for college at Mr. Lovell's school, and entered Harvard before he was fifteen years old. He graduated from Harvard in 1762.
Career
Upon graduating Belknap taught school at Milton, Massachussets, for a year or two, and afterward at Portsmouth and Greenland, New Hampshire. While thus engaged, he was studying for the ministry, and in 1766 he went to Dover, New Hampshire, where he was installed as pastor of the Congregational church. Although the relations between Belknap and Gov. John Wentworth were distinctly cordial, the former favored the American cause in the approaching Revolution, especially after the passage of the Boston Port Bill. Soon after hostilities began he was appointed chaplain to the New Hampshire troops at Cambridge, but his health and other considerations prevented him from accepting the office. After the war, in 1786, Belknap resigned from his parish at Dover, and after preaching at various places in New Hampshire and Massachusetts he accepted, early in 1787, a call to the Federal Street Church in Boston. He continued as minister of that society during the remainder of his life.
Belknap's reputation rests chiefly on his History of New Hampshire, a work in three volumes which is remarkable for its research, impartiality, and literary merit. The author began it soon after establishing himself at Dover and he completed it more than twenty years later. The first volume appeared in 1784; the others followed in 1791 and 1792. In many ways Belknap's New Hampshire is the counterpart of Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts-Bay, but it has the additional merit of being a complete study to 1789, including a valuable treatise on the natural history of New Hampshire. About 1787 Belknap amused himself by writing The Foresters, a humorous allegory describing the origin and rise of the British colonies in North America. It appeared serially in the Columbian Magazine, and later (1792) the chapters were collected and put forth as a small book.
Belknap's next production was his American Biography, two volumes containing sketches of the lives of the more famous early explorers and colonial leaders. The first volume was published in 1794; the second, just after his death in 1798. In Boston, Belknap discovered other gentlemen who were interested in the writing of history and in the preservation of historical papers and memorabilia. Conspicuous among these were William Tudor, the Rev. John Eliot, the Rev. Peter Thacher, and James Winthrop. In the summer of 1790 Belknap formulated a plan for an "Antiquarian Society, " and in January of the following year he and his four friends mentioned above held their first meeting. This was the beginning of the Massachusetts Historical Society, which was incorporated in 1794. Its first president was James Sullivan, who later became governor of Massachusetts; Belknap was elected corresponding secretary. This society was the first of its kind in the United States, and Belknap endeavored to promote the formation of similar institutions in the other states.
Besides his historical works Belknap wrote a biography of Isaac Watts, which appeared anonymously in 1793 in the same volume with a life of Dr. Doddridge by Andrew Kippis. In 1795 he published Dissertations on the Character, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the Evidence of his Gospel; in the same year he issued a collection of psalms and hymns, which was widely used by the Congregational churches of New England for many years. Other significant publications were a Sermon on Military Duty (1773), a Discourse intended to Commemorate the Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus (1792), and a Sermon delivered before the Convention of the Clergy of Massachusetts (1796).
Jeremy Belknap was a member of the American Philosophical Society; the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; the Congregational Church. He also was a fouding member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, which was incorporated in 1794.
Personality
A portrait of Belknap by Henry Sargent in the possession of the Massachusetts Historical Society shows a thick-set, perhaps corpulent man, with an intelligent and benevolent countenance. His health appears never to have been robust, but he seldom spared himself on that account either in his ministry or in his literary pursuits.
Connections
Jeremy Belknap was married to Ruth Eliot, daughter of Samuel Eliot, a bookseller in Cornhill, Boston.