Printer to the Spck
LAW, John.
A Sermon preached in the Cathedral Church of St Paul, London: on Thursday, June 1, 1797. Being the Time of the yearly Meeting of the Children educated in the Charity-Schools, in and about the Cities of London and Westminster ... To which is annexed, an Account of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. London, ‘printed by Ann Rivington, printer to the said Society’ for Francis and Charles Rivington, 1797.
4to, pp. iii, [1], 19, [1, blank]; 173, [1, blank]; ‘An Account of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge’ with separate titlepage, pagination, and register; slight staining to inner margin of title, a few upper margins cropped affecting the odd word; a good copy in modern calf-backed cloth boards, spine lettered in gilt; modern bookplate of Sidney Broad.
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A Sermon preached in the Cathedral Church of St Paul, London: on Thursday, June 1, 1797. Being the Time of the yearly Meeting of the Children educated in the Charity-Schools, in and about the Cities of London and Westminster ... To which is annexed, an Account of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
A short sermon by John Law, Archdeacon of Rochester, touching on children’s education, issued with a lengthy account of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, printed by Ann Rivington.
Although given prominence on the title-page, Law’s sermon occupies only the opening nineteen pages, the remainder of the volume being devoted to a remarkable account of the SPCK. This details its history and rules; lists its members (including ‘Ladies’); gives a statistical account of London charity schools in tabular form; provides ‘A Catalogue of Books dispersed by the Society’ and specimens of type employed in Bibles and Books of Common Prayer; describes missionary activities in the ‘East-Indies’ and ‘Scilly Islands’; and ends with the Society’s accounts. The catalogue of books is arranged under headings including ‘Bibles’, ‘Common Vices’, ‘Education and Instruction of Children and Families’, and ‘Against Popery’; prices are given per copy and per one hundred copies.
Ann (or Anna) Rivington (née Burge, 1756–1841) was the wife and successor of the London printer John Rivington (1756–1785), of the famous Rivington family, ‘one of the most important book-trade dynasties in England’ (ODNB). Ann, who operated from St John’s Square, is here described as printer to the SPCK, a privilege enjoyed by the Rivington family for seventy years (1765–1835). This work was sold by Ann’s relatives Francis and Charles Rivington at the Bible and Crown in St Paul’s Churchyard, the premises occupied by the family for over a hundred and forty years.
ESTC T112027.