Discourses on Various Subjects, Dewey 1835. This book is titled “Discourses on Various Subjects”, written by Rev. Orville Dewey and published in New York in 1835 by David Felt & Co., the copyright page is dated 1835, it was printed at Stationers’ Hall Press, and it’s a second edition, according to the title page. The book has four raised bands with a black label, gilt lettering, and gilt decorations on the spine, triple gilt-fillet outer borders and a single gilt-fillet inner border that surround wide gilt decorations on the front and rear covers, pale yellow endpapers, “No. 50028” in pencil on the front blank flyleaf, “Mary Andrews the gift of a dear friend” in pencil on the next blank flyleaf, the title page, the copyright page says the book was entered at the Clerk’s office of the District Court by David Felt in 1835, then a dedication page, one page of Contents, a one-page Preface, 299 pages of text, and all the edges are gilt. There is also a five-line note in pencil on an endpaper at the rear, and the note starts “Death cannot sever the bonds of affection …“ and has a very private, personal tone. Orville Dewey (1794 - 1882) was an American Unitarian minister from Sheffield, Massachusetts. His ancestors were among the first to settle Sheffield, he was raised on a farm with a strict Calvinist upbringing, and he was influenced by his cousin, Paul Dewey, an able mathematician and skeptic with regard to the prevailing theology. Orville went to Williams College, where he graduated with first honors, then he went to Andover and graduated from the Theological Seminary in 1819 and preached for the American Education Society for eight months - he turned down a pastorate position because of his unsettled views regarding theology. Nevertheless he was offered a pulpit in Gloucester, which he accepted on a temporary basis; he soon became a Unitarian and was appointed assistant to Dr. William Ellery Channing, the foremost Unitarian preacher in the United States in the early nineteenth century - and they formed a lasting friendship. A Unitarian was a person who asserted the unity of God and rejected the doctrine of the Trinity, and typically rejected formal dogma in favor of a rationalist approach to belief. In 1823 Orville became pastor of the Unitarian Church in New Bedford, which was a Quaker town at the time, he stayed there for ten years, then went back and forth to Europe because of his health, he took a position at another Unitarian Church in New York, and eventually he was forced to resign because of his health, so he returned to Sheffield, where he prepared lectures for the Lowell Institute of Boston: the lectures were about the design and end of Providence in this world. He lectured frequently, and his controversial articles and sermons were reprinted by the Unitarian Association. He wrote things like “The Deep Things of the Gospel, a Discourse” (1830), “On Tests of True Religion” (1832), and “Remarks on the Sacred Scriptures, and on Belief and Unbelief” (1839), among others, so he was heavily into his faith and beliefs as evidenced by his writings. Orville Wright was named after him. The book is 8vo. and measures 7 3/8 x 4 3/4 in. wide and is in very good condition. The binding is tight, the pages and text are very clean, with light rubbing on the spine and along the edges of the spine and at the tips, the gilt is slightly faded, there is a small mark on the edge of one of the front endpapers and a faint brown spot on the page where the green ribbon-marker is, and that’s really it. The pages are very clean, and the book is much better condition than the three copies offered for sale on the rare book website we use. Those copies have heavy wear, hinge cracks, and more, and this copy is a beautiful example of religious thought by a person who struggled with his religious beliefs and showed remarkable integrity through all his struggles. #225 #4995