Here is a common way to raise funds, but not a typical means of funding your preachers. Item 23 is Richard Carter's An Easie Method to Raise this Present Year, 1715, 5000l. per Ann. Forever...without Taxing either Persons or Trade... Published in 1715, Carter hoped to establish a lottery. What is unusual is that the proceeds were to be used to fund ministers, people who usually discourage gambling. $1,500.

Next is a case where perfectly reasonable logic fails to operate in the real world. Item 12 is William Bell's A Dissertation on the Following Subject: What Causes Principally Contribute to Render a Nation Populous? Published in 1756, Bell concludes that families in poor countries will reproduce at lower rates. "Very few of those, who find it a matter of the greatest difficulty to subsist themselves, will lay themselves under the additional obligation of providing for others." As we know, logical as this may be, it is in poor nations where reproduction rates are highest, while families in wealthy nations have fewer and fewer children. $1,250.

Here's a bit of history you know nothing about. It is the Fishmonger-Smackman Controversy of 1715. According to the Urban Dictionary, a "smackman" is someone who, in playing a particular online video game, after killing someone, smacks their body with a gun while they are lying on the ground. However, they didn't have video games in 1715, so I'm guessing this "smackman" is an archaic term referring to someone who worked on a ship. This is all kind of vague because I can't find anything about this controversy even with the full aid and assistance of Google. Apparently there was a bill before Parliament that year regulating fishing, and there was a controversy over whether to ban the sale of lobsters caught by foreigners. So, item 63 is Farther Reasons Humbly Offer'd for the Passing of the Fish Bill. Reese informs us that this broadside represents the point of view of the "pro-free-trade-lobster fishmonger lobby." And you thought we had lobbyists representing too many causes today. Anyway, who could be against free trade lobsters? $850.

The William Reese Company may be reached at 203-789-8081 or amorder@reeseco.com. Their website is www.reeseco.com.