![NEWTON, John (1725-1807). Three autograph letters signed (‘John Newton’ twice and ‘J Newton’) to: [William Wilberforce] (‘My very dear Sir’), n.p., 5 June 1804; his wife Mary (‘My dearest dear Polly’), London, 19 June 1755; and to the Reverend [Richard] Kaye (‘Dear Sir’), Olney, 3 September 1772.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/CKS/2017_CKS_14301_0029_001(newton_john_three_autograph_letters_signed_to_william_wilberforce_np_5022826).jpg?w=1)
![NEWTON, John (1725-1807). Three autograph letters signed (‘John Newton’ twice and ‘J Newton’) to: [William Wilberforce] (‘My very dear Sir’), n.p., 5 June 1804; his wife Mary (‘My dearest dear Polly’), London, 19 June 1755; and to the Reverend [Richard] Kaye (‘Dear Sir’), Olney, 3 September 1772.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/CKS/2017_CKS_14301_0029_002(newton_john_three_autograph_letters_signed_to_william_wilberforce_np_5022835).jpg?w=1)
![NEWTON, John (1725-1807). Three autograph letters signed (‘John Newton’ twice and ‘J Newton’) to: [William Wilberforce] (‘My very dear Sir’), n.p., 5 June 1804; his wife Mary (‘My dearest dear Polly’), London, 19 June 1755; and to the Reverend [Richard] Kaye (‘Dear Sir’), Olney, 3 September 1772.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/CKS/2017_CKS_14301_0029_003(newton_john_three_autograph_letters_signed_to_william_wilberforce_np_5022844).jpg?w=1)
![NEWTON, John (1725-1807). Three autograph letters signed (‘John Newton’ twice and ‘J Newton’) to: [William Wilberforce] (‘My very dear Sir’), n.p., 5 June 1804; his wife Mary (‘My dearest dear Polly’), London, 19 June 1755; and to the Reverend [Richard] Kaye (‘Dear Sir’), Olney, 3 September 1772.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/CKS/2017_CKS_14301_0029_000(newton_john_three_autograph_letters_signed_to_william_wilberforce_np_5042559).jpg?w=1)
Details
NEWTON, John (1725-1807). Three autograph letters signed (‘John Newton’ twice and ‘J Newton’) to: [William Wilberforce] (‘My very dear Sir’), n.p., 5 June 1804; his wife Mary (‘My dearest dear Polly’), London, 19 June 1755; and to the Reverend [Richard] Kaye (‘Dear Sir’), Olney, 3 September 1772.
One page, 263 x 192mm, (split at folds, repairs to verso); 1½ pages, 250 x 198mm, bifolium, address panel (a second cut signature pasted down at end, conserved with gauze-backing); 3 pages, 230 x 182mm, (tape reinforcements, browned).
Three letters from the reformed slave-trader, Anglican clergyman, and author of ‘Amazing Grace’, John Newton, including a striking missive sent to William Wilberforce, congratulating him on the abolition of the slave trade, which has affirmed what Newton ‘always professed to believe, that to prayer, faith, and patient perseverance, all things are possible’. Newton offers his congratulations to Wilberforce ‘for the success which He has so far been pleased to give to your unwearied endeavours for the abolition of the slave trade which I have considered as a Milstone, sufficient of Itself, sufficient to sink such an enlightened & highly favoured Nation as ours to the bottom of the sea […] I was afraid the mistaken prejudices of the West India planters would prove an insuperable obstacle. But I have a new proof now of what I always professed to believe […]’. To his wife Polly, Newton writes in adoring tone – ‘I find I have 2 hearts & 2 souls if I so may speak, one has been sweetly engaged in London but the other has been constantly with you at Chatham’, while to the Reverend Richard Kaye, he offers spiritual support – ‘While we apply continually to him to lead us & guide us we shall walk safely, but if we ever stand alone, & go forth as if we were Wise or Good, we are then within one step of a snare or a fall’ – and relays parish news.
After a desperate plea to the Lord during a violent storm at sea saw his safe deliverance, John Newton converted to Christianity, turning away from his career in the slave trade and subsequently lending support to William Wilberforce’s Abolition campaign: his 1788 pamphlet, Thoughts Upon the Slave Trade, detailed the appalling conditions aboard the slave ships that plied the Middle Passage.
One page, 263 x 192mm, (split at folds, repairs to verso); 1½ pages, 250 x 198mm, bifolium, address panel (a second cut signature pasted down at end, conserved with gauze-backing); 3 pages, 230 x 182mm, (tape reinforcements, browned).
Three letters from the reformed slave-trader, Anglican clergyman, and author of ‘Amazing Grace’, John Newton, including a striking missive sent to William Wilberforce, congratulating him on the abolition of the slave trade, which has affirmed what Newton ‘always professed to believe, that to prayer, faith, and patient perseverance, all things are possible’. Newton offers his congratulations to Wilberforce ‘for the success which He has so far been pleased to give to your unwearied endeavours for the abolition of the slave trade which I have considered as a Milstone, sufficient of Itself, sufficient to sink such an enlightened & highly favoured Nation as ours to the bottom of the sea […] I was afraid the mistaken prejudices of the West India planters would prove an insuperable obstacle. But I have a new proof now of what I always professed to believe […]’. To his wife Polly, Newton writes in adoring tone – ‘I find I have 2 hearts & 2 souls if I so may speak, one has been sweetly engaged in London but the other has been constantly with you at Chatham’, while to the Reverend Richard Kaye, he offers spiritual support – ‘While we apply continually to him to lead us & guide us we shall walk safely, but if we ever stand alone, & go forth as if we were Wise or Good, we are then within one step of a snare or a fall’ – and relays parish news.
After a desperate plea to the Lord during a violent storm at sea saw his safe deliverance, John Newton converted to Christianity, turning away from his career in the slave trade and subsequently lending support to William Wilberforce’s Abolition campaign: his 1788 pamphlet, Thoughts Upon the Slave Trade, detailed the appalling conditions aboard the slave ships that plied the Middle Passage.
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