For centuries, before the advent of modern anthropology, people tried to figure the origin of the Indians. One of the recurring explanations that they were of the Lost Tribes of Israel. Certainly, they would have become very far lost if they ended up in America. Thomas Thorowgood was a believer in that theory. Thorowgood was a friend of the notable 17th century American missionary, John Eliot, who produced the first translation of the Bible in an Indian tongue. In his book, Thorowgood describes New England and the ministry of Eliot, but then goes on to explain his theory of the origin of America's natives. The title of his 1650 treatise is Jewes in America, or the Probabilities that Americans are of that Race... Item 10. $12,500.
Item 54 is a pair of unrelated, unrecorded 1746 broadsides, printed together, evidently for efficiency, and never separated. One is titled A Serious and Solemn Invitation to All Who Love the Lord Jesus Christ...to Join His Majesty's Forces in the Present Intended Expedition Against Bloody Canada. Essentially, it beseeches colonists to show their love for Jesus by killing some French Catholics. The unknown author must have hated Catholics so much that he assumed Jesus must feel the same. His poem begins: “Come all that hate the whore of Rome, / and her vile fopperies, / Her bloody persecuting spirit, / And all her cruelties.” The Church can be forgiven most things, but fopperies are going too far. The poem continues with a litany of sins perpetrated by the Church, dating from the first century to the present. The second broadside is headed, The Cry of the Son of God from the Cross, and it is a graphic, gory piece, worthy of a Mel Gibson movie. $11,000.
The William Reese Company may be reached at 203-789-8081 or amorder@reeseco.com. Their website is www.reeseco.com.
