Thomas, Joseph:

$850 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

A POETICAL DESCANT ON THE PRIMEVAL AND PRESENT STATE OF MANKIND; OR, THE PILGRIM'S MUSE. First edition of the major poetic accomplishment by Thomas (1791–1835), regarded by many, including Cotten, as the first native-born North Carolina poet. Struck at a young age with a religious fervor that led him through several sects insufficient in zeal to harbor his passions, Thomas was finally baptized and licensed to preach in the Christian Church at the age of seventeen. He travelled widely with his wife, and after a revelation in 1814, he disposed of all his "fashionable clothing" and thenceforth dressed only in white, from whence was derived his nickname, the "White Pilgrim." During his travels in the east, he was exposed to and contracted small-pox, from which he died in the home of a New Jersey Elder. Commenting on Thomas' autobiography, Howes notes that he was "[a] frontier gospel ranter who vied with Lorenzo Dow in wander lust and eccentricity. In two years he traveled 7000 miles through Tenn., Ky. and Ohio." Thomas was, in turn, the subject of two poems by John Ellis, both of which were set to music and served as widely popular hymns in the 19th century. In 1963 Doc Watson recorded a version, and that, in turn, inspired a version by Bob Dylan, included in his 1993 album, World Gone Wrong. While not a rare book in an absolute sense (at the time of cataloguing, OCLC locates twenty-three copies), it is scarce in commerce.

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