Full tan leather binding with red and black title plates, Gilt decoration and title on the spine.

In the 18th century, when slavery stretched across the Northern and Southern colonies, enslaved people were sometimes taught to read so they could learn the Gospel. 

Thomas Davies (c. 1713 – 1785) was a Scottish bookseller and author. He studied at the University of Edinburgh and was for some years on the stage; but having been ridiculed by Churchill in The Rosciad he gave up acting and opened a bookshop in Covent Garden. It was here that in 1763 he introduced Boswell to Dr. Johnson, who was his close friend and to whom he dedicated his edition of the works of Massinger. He wrote a successful Life of Garrick (1780), which passed through four editions, and Dramatic Miscellanies (three volumes, 1783-4).

Davies republished the works of authors including William Browne (1772), Sir John Davies (1773), John Eachard (1774), George Lillo (1775), and Philip Massinger, with some account of his life and writings prefixed (1779). In 1773 he published Miscellaneous and Fugitive Pieces, in two volumes, and advertised them as by the author of The Rambler. Johnson’s writings, without authority, formed the bulk of this collection; but Johnson was disarmed by Davies’s good-nature and professions of penitence.

In 1778 Davies became bankrupt, and Johnson exerted his influence on Davies’s behalf, collected money to buy back his furniture, and induced Richard Brinsley Sheridan to give him a benefit at Drury Lane. Davies then appeared for the last time as Fainall in William Congreve’s The Way of the World. Next year Davies dedicated his Massinger to Johnson. Johnson later encouraged Davies to write the life of Garrick, supplied the first sentence, and gave help with Garrick’s early years. The book appeared in 1780, passed through four editions, and brought money and reputation to the author. Encouraged by this success, he published in 1785 Dramatic Miscellanies, consisting of critical observations on several plays of Shakespeare, with a review of his principal characters and those of various eminent writers, as represented by Mr. Garrick and other celebrated comedians. With anecdotes of Dramatic Poets, Actors, &c., 3 vols., 1785. A second edition appeared the same year.