CLARKSON, Thomas.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

A Portraiture of Quakerism. First edition, written by the abolitionist Thomas Clarkson. Introduced to the antislavery movement by a Quaker, Clarkson turned away from his intended Anglican clerical career. He later described himself as a Quaker "not in name, but I hoped in spirit: I was nine parts out of ten of their way of thinking" (cited in Wilson, p. 134).He was "alone among the leading abolitionists... not immediately commemorated in Westminster Abbey, apparently out of consideration for the susceptibilities of his Quaker friends" (ODNB). Quakers seemingly reciprocated his regard; "his was one of the few pictures allowed in their homes" (Wilson, p. 134).A modern inscription on the front free endpaper identifies this as the copy of the prominent Quaker philanthropist and textile merchant Thomas Bland (c. 1740-1818).

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