Newport, Rhode-Island: Printed by James Franklin, 1729. First American edition (The Sixth Edition in English). 8vo. (xii), 524 (i.e. 574), (29) pp. Full contemporary brown calf, ruled and decorated in blind, spine dry, joints moderately worn; short split at top and bottom of front joint; boards and extremities rubbed; all edges trimmed; armorial book-plate of Samuel Bancroft, Jr., on front paste-down; ownership signature of Phebe Woolley, dated 1801, on front blank, partially effaced contemporary ownership signature on verso of same, dated 1739; old inscription at top of title-page, crossed out in a contemporary hand; contemporary signature of Joseph Rogers on rear free endpaper; short closed tear in top edge of O3 and Q1; scattered light spotting to text. Sabin 3364; Evans 3129; Alden, Rhode Island Imprints 11

A rare James Franklin imprint of Robert Barclay's classic defense of Quakerism, one of the first books printed in Rhode Island. James (1697-1735) was older brother to Benjamin Franklin, and was the first printer in Rhode Island, where he set up shop in Newport in 1727.