PALEY, William. Sermons on Several Subjects. By the late Rev. William Paley, D.D... Philadelphia: Printed for Hopkins and Earle, No. 170, Market-Street. Fry and Kammerer, Printers. 1808. First American Edition. Octavo, 384pp.
This early American work introduces the posthumous sermon collection of Dr. William Paley (1743–1805), one of the absolute giants of English philosophy and natural theology. Paley is universally famous among history students and book collectors for his foundational theological works like Natural Theology (which famously introduced the "Watchmaker Analogy"). While alive, Paley was extremely cautious about publishing his specific pulpit sermons, fearing they would be picked apart.
The "Advertisement" preface reveals the works unusual origin. In a codicil to his will, Paley explicitly directed that after his death, a private volume of roughly 500 copies of his sermons should be printed at the expense of his executors and distributed completely free of charge to the families and churchgoers in his old English parishes. He strictly commanded: “I would not have the said Sermons published for sale.” However, because his brilliant rational thoughts on deep subjects—like "Seriousness in Religion," "The Love of God," and "Of the State after Death"—were hugly desired by the reading public.
This 1808 Philadelphia Edition is a True First American Edition, hitting the market just months after the authorized British version appeared. Printed by the celebrated team of Fry and Kammerer for the booksellers Hopkins and Earle, this volume is a beautiful example of Early Republic printing. It captures the exact moment when the young United States was eagerly importing the absolute finest minds of the European Enlightenment to shape its own moral and spiritual institutions.
Provenance
Sunday-School Library Plate: Affixed to the front pastedown is a highly charming, complete institutional library label belonging to the Sunday-School Library of the Camillus Baptist Church. Spelled out in an early cursive ink hand, the book was cataloged as "No. 138." The plate features strict Victorian-era institutional library regulations: "Keep this book neatly—Read it carefully—Return it promptly to the Library." This artifact grounds the book directly in the rural, small-town religious community life of Upstate New York during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Condition Report
• Binding: Hardcover bound in its rustic, original 1808 contemporary full American brown calfskin leather. The front and rear boards display a beautiful patina and a deep mottling typical of early 19th-century trade bindings.
• Spine: The spine leather exhibits heavy, honest surface rubbing, scuffing, and minor superficial cracking to the outer joints with minor loss to the leather surface near the tail corners, yet the antique boards remain soundly attached.
• Interior: Complete text block ending cleanly on page 384. The detailed Advertisement, and the complete Contents tables mapping out all of the sermons. The hand-pressed early American rag paper shows beautiful, rich typography on crisp. The interior text block remains quite clean with only very light, sparse uniform age-toning and tiny peripheral corner smudges, completely free of any modern scribbling or internal page loss.
