THE EXTRAORDINARY CONVERSION, AND RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE OF DOROTHY RIPLEY, WITH HER FIRST VOYAGE AND TRAVELS IN AMERICA
New York: Printed by G. and R. Waite, for the author, 1810. First Edition. Small Sexto, 168, 8 pages, [2]. In Very Good condition. Disbound, leather spine with morocco label largely preserved. Some light consistent toning throughout text block. Title page with small pencil marks. Verso of title page used for ink accounting, dated 1826.
"An address to the mayor and corporation of New York, by Dorothy Ripley. New York, 2d, 7th month, 1810": 8 p. at end.
"The end of the first volume."--p. 168. Presumed no more published. Last page blank.
DF consignment. Shelved case 1.
1401702
Shelved Dupont Bookstore
Price: $7,500
NOTES
Sabin 71498 for the Second Edition, London 1817. Sabin does not list this First Edition. Shaw & Shoemaker, 21225.
OCLC lists 11 copies in the US, plus a duplicate at the Library of Congress. Jisc Library Hub Discover shows one copy at the University of Cambridge. No copies have appeared at auction in over a century.
Dorothy Ripley (1767-1831) was a British evangelist and leading female minister in the United States and Great Britain. She prioritized reaching systemically oppressed people, and was incredibly opposed to American slavery.
After arriving in the US in 1801, she met with Thomas Jefferson, asking for permission to minister to enslaved African Americans, oppose slaveowners directly, and found a school to educate the freed. During the meeting, she directly (though briefly) criticized the President for enslaving people and supporting the institution, sharing a particular concern for African women being abused by their white slaveholders. Despite their differing ideologies, the meeting was a success. After securing presidential support, Ripley traveled around the US to the South where she ministered directly to enslaved people and advocated for the education of freed African Americans. She preached abolition to slaveholders and ministered in African American churches. In January 1806, Ripley became the first woman to sermonize a church service inside the United States Capitol building.
The Extraordinary Conversion and Religious Experience of Dorothy Ripley was Ripley’s first book, published in 1810. She used the proceeds from this and her later books to finance her preaching. Ripley wrote and worked while facing heavy criticism, even being accused of prostitution, at the time by men who disapproved of influential women and/or opposition to slavery. Despite backlash, she dedicated her life to this mission, working across denominations with Quakers and prominent Methodists, including Bishop Francis Asbury, Bishop Whatcoat, Ruth Watkins and Hugh Bourne. Her trailblazing work reached a transatlantic audience and prioritized serving the most disenfranchised and vulnerable. In 1832, Christian Advocate and Journal and Zion's Herald called her "perhaps the most extraordinary woman in the world."