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Letters to Benjamin Fawcett, circa 1762 : manuscript, in the hand of Samuel Cooper.

BIB_ID
436355
Accession number
MA 23625
Creator
Newton, John, 1725-1807.
Display Date
Place of writing not identified, circa 1762.
Credit line
Purchased for The Dannie and Hettie Heineman Collection as the gift of the Heineman Foundation, 2020.
Description
1 item (70 pages), bound ; 16.7 cm
Notes
These letters, in which Newton gives an account of his life, are a precursor to Newton's letters to Thomas Haweis, which were published as An Authentic Narrative Of Some Remarkable And Interesting Particulars In The Life Of John Newton (London, 1764). See reference to writing the letters to Fawcett in Newton's diary entry for October 25, 1762 (MA 731, f. 309), as well as other entries.
Beale is probably Thomas Beale (1733-1805), perpetual curate of Bengeworth and brother-in-law to Samuel Cooper. The two other individuals referred to may be Dr. John Coakley Lettsom and Dr. William Rowley (1742-1806).
Provenance
Bookplate of Oswald Greenwaye Knapp. Purchased from Modern First Editions, Ltd., April 2020.
Summary
Consisting of eight letters dated 15 October 1762 to 17 November 1762 addressed to Benjamin Fawcett, Presbyterian minister in Kidderminster, and copied out by Samuel Cooper, vicar of Loxley, Warwickshire. These are followed by extracts from letters in at least one later hand and signed Thomas Beale, J.C. Lettsome, and Dr. Rowley.