Jacob

1732 · WRCAM55846 — London: Printed for D. Midwinter and A. Ward. 1732. 2214197-40016 of 24pp. plus seven plates including frontispiece. Lacks the final four leaves of the index. 12mo. Contemporary calf rebacked with original backstrip laid down. Light shelf wear corners worn. Contemporary bookplate and presentation inscriptions see below. One plate torn lacking the lower left quarter of the sheet repaired with blank paper. One page with early manuscript marginalia. Scattered light foxing. About very good. A remarkable association copy connecting two significant members of the Revolutionary generation who were also united by family intermarriage and whose friendship was riven by their divergent loyalties during the American Revolution. This copy bears the bookplate of Francis Hopkinson 1737-91 signer of the Declaration of Independence author and poet composer judge and Pennsylvania government official. The ANB calls him "arguably the most versatile American of the revolutionary generation." This book was given to Hopkinson by the noted minister Jacob Duché who would shortly thereafter marry Hopkinson's sister and who famously broke with the cause of liberty during the Revolution. <br> <br> A front fly leaf bears the presentation inscription "The Present of Mr. Jacob Duché Junr. to Francis Hopkinson December 1757." The same hand has signed the titlepage with the names of Jacob Duché and Francis Hopkinson and the date 1757. On that page Duché's name has been crossed out indicating that the inscriptions are likely in the hand of Duché and that he crossed out his own name on the titlepage when he gave the book to Francis Hopkinson. Jacob Duché and Francis Hopkinson had a long and complicated friendship dating back at least to their college days at the College of Philadelphia later the University of Pennsylvania. In 1760 three years after giving him this book Duché married Hopkinson's sister Elizabeth. Francis Hopkinson was a prolific author and musician and published forty poems before the Revolution. A copy of HUDIBRAS Samuel Butler's famous satirical poem on English politics would have been a welcome and influential gift. "During the Revolution Hopkinson wrote a number of ballads and essays poking fun at the British cause and the Loyalists. 'The Birds the Beasts and the Bat' written in Hudibrastic verse served to ridicule those persons who tried to take both sides during the Revolution" - ANB. <br> <br> It is impossible not to believe that one of those targets of Hopkinson's ridicule was the gifter of the present edition of HUDIBRAS his brother-in-law Jacob Duché. Duché 1738- 98 born into a wealthy Philadelphia family was only twenty-two years old when he married Elizabeth Hopkinson. He would go on to become a prominent minister and religious leader in Philadelphia noted for his well- written sermons and essays. In 1774 he was asked to serve as the chaplain to the Continental Congress and he therefore gained political prominence as well displaying an apparent zeal for liberty. Duché resigned his official position with the Congress in October 1776 having concluded that the Declaration of Independence - signed just three months earlier by his friend and brother-in-law - would not serve as a tool for reconciliation with England. When the British captured Philadelphia Duché was imprisoned by General Howe and came to a permanent change of heart regarding the revolutionary cause. In 1777 he wrote a rash letter to George Washington urging that Washington undo the Declaration of Independence and negotiate a peace. The publication of the letter destroyed Duché's career and "those whose hearts had thrilled to Duché's eloquence now cursed him as a traitor and even Hopkinson wrote him a burning letter of protest" DAB. Duché and his family soon exiled themselves to London. The conclusion of the Revolutionary War did not provide Duché with an opportunity to return to the United States - anti-Loyalist sentiments were still too raw. It was not until 1792 having by then taken up the tenets of Swedenborgianism that Duché and his family finally returned to Philadelphia where he lived the rest of his life. <br> <br> Francis Hopkinson's bookplate was engraved by the noted artist and engraver Henry Dawkins one of the early engravers in the colonies. Dawkins was born in England but came to New York City in 1754. He found work engraving bookplates maps and music in New York and then in Philadelphia before returning again to New York in 1774. He was arrested there in 1776 and charged with counterfeiting paper money apparently not for the first time for which he was jailed. Later that year he petitioned the New York Provincial Congress for release but the record of Dawkins's life ends there and we do not know what became of him. <br> <br> This is a later edition of Samuel Butler's famous epic poem first published in three parts in London beginning in 1663. An edition containing all three parts together was first published in 1684. This edition contains seven engravings by William Hogarth. In the present edition parts two and three have separate titlepages and that of part three bears the imprint "printed for B. Motte. The text is continuous despite the pagination. <br> <br> A remarkable volume - a gift of youthful friendship inspirational to a signer of the Declaration of Independence whose long and close friendship with his brother-in-law would become a casualty of conflicting loyalties during the American Revolution. ESTC N17078. DAB IX pp.220-23; V 476-77. ANB 11 pp.190-92; 7 pp.4-5. Printed for D. Midwinter and A. Ward... unknown books