![AUCHMUTY, Samuel (1722-1777). A Sermon Preached at the Opening of St. Paul's Chapel in the City of New York on the Thirtieth Day of October, A.D. 1766. New York: H. Gaine, [1766].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2003/NYR/2003_NYR_01318_0170_000(070543).jpg?w=1)
PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF MR. & MRS. LEO S. BING
AUCHMUTY, Samuel (1722-1777). A Sermon Preached at the Opening of St. Paul's Chapel in the City of New York on the Thirtieth Day of October, A.D. 1766. New York: H. Gaine, [1766].
Details
AUCHMUTY, Samuel (1722-1777). A Sermon Preached at the Opening of St. Paul's Chapel in the City of New York on the Thirtieth Day of October, A.D. 1766. New York: H. Gaine, [1766].
4o (180 x 151 mm). Modern half calf, edges gilt.
FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED on verso of front flyleaf: "To Mr. Van Dam from his much obliged and most obedient servant Samuel Auchmuty." A 1742 graduate of Harvard, Auchmuty was appointed assistant minister at Trinity Church in 1748, and became Rector in 1764. He supervised the construction of nearby St. Paul's Chapel and delivered this sermon on its opening, taking as his text, Exodus, 3:5: And he said, draw not nigh hither. Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." Auchmuty was a fervent Loyalist, a High Church man, and a proponent of an American episcopate. His library and papers were destroyed in the great fire of 1776, and had he lived, he undoubtedly would have accompanied his son (an officer in the British army) into exile in England. As for the Chapel, it became--and remains--a cherished New York and American institution, it's ministry now in its 238 year. Best remembered as the place where George Washington came to pray before his Inauguration, the Chapel became a focal point for public memorials after the destruction of the World Trade Center in September 2001. "The Erecetion of this noble Edifice," Auchmuty says, "...will ever redound to your Honour, and be gratefully remembered by the latest Posterity." Evans 10231 (copies now noted in Library of Congress [2], NY Public Library, and Yale University).
4
FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY, INSCRIBED on verso of front flyleaf: "To Mr. Van Dam from his much obliged and most obedient servant Samuel Auchmuty." A 1742 graduate of Harvard, Auchmuty was appointed assistant minister at Trinity Church in 1748, and became Rector in 1764. He supervised the construction of nearby St. Paul's Chapel and delivered this sermon on its opening, taking as his text, Exodus, 3:5: And he said, draw not nigh hither. Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." Auchmuty was a fervent Loyalist, a High Church man, and a proponent of an American episcopate. His library and papers were destroyed in the great fire of 1776, and had he lived, he undoubtedly would have accompanied his son (an officer in the British army) into exile in England. As for the Chapel, it became--and remains--a cherished New York and American institution, it's ministry now in its 238 year. Best remembered as the place where George Washington came to pray before his Inauguration, the Chapel became a focal point for public memorials after the destruction of the World Trade Center in September 2001. "The Erecetion of this noble Edifice," Auchmuty says, "...will ever redound to your Honour, and be gratefully remembered by the latest Posterity." Evans 10231 (copies now noted in Library of Congress [2], NY Public Library, and Yale University).