St John's College H.28 (James 291)
Edmund Porter, 'The Mysterie of the Sabbath Discovered'. English, 1658
Edmund Porter, Fellow of St John's College, Rector of Heveningham and Prebend of Norwich (d. 1670): 'The Mysterie of the Sabbath Discovered', 1658. The text, in twenty-two chapters, is in a clean draft, but the epistle dedicatory to Thomas [Richardson], Lord Cramond (1627-74) and Anne, Lady Cramond is substantially corrected. The author has added a direction to the printer at p. 5, yet the work appears to have remained in manuscript. The dedication is dated 'Marsham in Norff. Oct. 1 1658', the main text concluding 'Laus Deo primo oct. 1658 pag: 90'.
325x215 mm. [4]+8(3-5 bis)+[4]+77+[3] pp. In a different hand on the original front cover: 'This work was never published: it is not in Watts Bibliotheca', and in the same hand as a marginal note to p. 1 of the dedication: 'The Rev. Dr Lewis Baily or Bayley, Bishop of Bangor. T.S.'. Small College bookplate inside front cover, where there is another inscription, perhaps in the same hand as the other two: 'This Book belongs to the MSS in St John's Coll. Library, Cambridge (from Mr Whytehead's books)'.
Epistle Dedicatory in autograph, main text in the hand of 'my friend Mr Christopher Stinnet' (of Christ's College, d. 1668, at this time Vicar of Wickham-Skeith). Paper in at least three sizes, initial pages significantly damaged, with some later pages repaired, perhaps at time or rebinding. Nineteenth-century cloth binding on boards.