[QUAKER HISTORY]. -- [PEMBERTON, Israel (1715-1779)]. An Address to the Inhabitants of Pennsylvania, by Those Freemen, of the City of Philadelphia, Who Are Now Confined in the Mason's Lodge, by Virtue of a General Warrant. Signed in Council by the Vice President of the Council of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Robert Bell, 1777.

8vo (216 x 133 mm). (Spotting and browning.) Stab-sewn, uncut.

FIRST EDITION, second issue, according to Adams who cites a rare earlier issue without signatures G and H. An important history of the refusal of Quakers to take the oath of allegiance and bear arms, containing the Friends' explanation of their beliefs with respect to the war, calling the action of Congress an "engine of modern despotism". The Quakers who repudiated were "imprisoned in consequence of their refusal not to depart from their dwelling-houses and engage to refrain from doing anything injurious to the United States, by speaking, writing, or otherwise, and from giving intelligence to the commander of the British forces, or to any other person, concerning publick affairs" (Monthly Review, LVIII, 81). Adams 77-2b; Evans 15496; Hildeburn 3511; Howes P191; Sabin 59610. [With:] another copy, bound in modern cloth.
Property from the Collection of Dr. K. William Harter, Alexandria, Virginia