2 volumes in one, 8vo (180 x 117 mm). 2 portrait engravings by Paul Revere. (First portrait laid down, repairs to second portrait accompanied by some cleaning, both reinserted on stubs, some spotting and occasional repairs throughout). Late 20th century quarter morocco over marbled boards (some minor rubbing). Provenance: Isaac Backus (1724-1806), Baptist minister (ownership signature dated 1772); Walter Kennedy (ownership signature).

SECOND EDITION, WITH TWO ENGRAVINGS BY AMERICAN PATRIOT PAUL REVERE, PRINTED AT THE EVE OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.

King Philip's War was a colonial conflict that took place between 1675 and 1678, among the first and most violent confrontations in North America between white settlers and Indigenous tribes. Today, this conflict is considered to be the flashpoint for the development of a true American identity, as the conflict was waged without aid of any kind from a European military or government. To the Indigenous tribes, the conflict marked the beginning of the end of their dominance on the North American continent. As leader of the Wampanoag, King Philip's goal was to push the white settlers off of North America once and for all.

During the war, Colonel Benjamin Church (1639-1718) was military aide to Plymouth Governor Josiah Winslow. He famously commanded a company of Englishmen and Native Americans without Winslow's knowledge. It was one of Church's Wampanoag allies, John Anderson, who tracked and killed King Philip. Church published Entertaining Passages Relating to Philip's War in 1716, and is today considered one of the first published manuals of American military warfare.

For the second edition, published in 1772, Boston silversmith Paul Revere was contracted to create two engravings, one of Church and one of King Philip, for inclusion in the book. Interestingly, Revere chose to portray Church as wearing the colonial tri-corner hat, likely to associate him with the revolution currently brewing in the New England colonies. These engravings were the first to be printed following Revere's famous 1770 engraving of the Boston Massacre. The printer, Solomon Southwick, was among the first to print copies of the Declaration of Independence following its adoption on July 4, 1776.

A SUPERB ASSOCIATION COPY.

Isaac Backus was a Baptist minister who during the Revolutionary War era campaigned against the establishment of state churches in New England. In An Appeal to the Public for Religious Liberty, Against the Oppressions of the Present Day (1773), Backus became one of the first to openly advocate for a separation of church and state. Beginning in 1775 he became an enthusiastic supporter of the Revolutionary cause. In 1778 he served as a Massachusetts delegate to the Constitutional Convention, during which he praised the proposed First Amendment and its lack of religious tests for office holders: "...religion is ever a matter between God and individuals; and therefore no man or men can impose any religious test, without invading the essential prerogatives of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ministers first assumed this power under the Christian name; and then Constantine approved of the practice, when he adopted the profession of Christianity, as an engine of state policy. And let the history of all nations be searched, from that day to this, and it will appear that the imposing of religious tests hath been the greatest engine of tyranny in the world." Alden 488; Brigham, Paul Revere's Engravings, pp.74-75; Evans 12352; Howes C-405; Sabin 12997.