Authors do not write books in a vacuum. As Michel Foucault theorized, authors craft books within a capitalist market framework that guides them to write first and foremost to sell their work, as seen with the previous examinations of David Humphreys’ 1730 book as a material work and historical item (Foucault, 291). In this sense, authors explicitly construct their books for their intended audience, oftentimes prospective buyers. In the case of the 1730 work An Historical Account of the Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts Containing their Foundation, Proceedings, and the Succeses of their Missionaries in the British Colonies, to the Year 1728 the author addressed British King George II to maintain royal funding for the Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. The author, David Humphreys, was an active member of the Society who composed the work on behalf of the organization. The organization organized missionary efforts in the British colonies in North America, evangelizing mainline Anglican Christianity at a time of continued royal concern over Catholicism. As recently as 1700, the English Parliament mandated that all English monarchs be Protestant and explicitly forbade Catholics from ascending to the throne (Act of Settlement).

In the milieu of continued religious fervor and a growing British empire in North America, the Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts served the royal goal of advancing Protestantism in the colonies. So important was this Georgian conversion objective that King George II and his predecessor King George I personally funded the Society. In fact, most of the Society’s funding originated from royal coffers, only supplemented by income from a Barbados plantation (Humphreys, vi-vii). Given the financial situation of the Society, Humphreys wrote An Historical Account of the Incorporated Society to justify the organization’s work to its primary donor: King George II. In the introduction, Humphreys clearly states the goal of An Historical Account of the Incorporated Society by noting “It is hoped that the reader upon peru[s]ing the following Papers, will find Cau[s]e to be much plea[s]ed with the unexpected Succe[s]s of [s]o great a Work. E[s]pecially if it is con[s]idered, that this Society hath no publick Income or Revenue.” (iv-v). Humphreys goes so far as record the Society’s missions in North America as “royal intentions” (xxx).

Despite Humphreys’ intention of justifying continued royal funding for the Society’s mission in North America, this copy of An Historical Account of the Incorporated Society’s primary audience became students at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, nearly four thousand miles from London. Between the 1730s and 1760s, Isaac Norris Jr., the son of Philadelphia politician, merchant, and noted book collector in his own right Isaac Norris Sr. acquired An Historical Account of the Incorporated Society. The book passed to Isaac Norris Jr.’s daughter Mary after Isaac’s death in 1766 (Korey, 8). Mary married John Dickinson, the namesake of Dickinson College, who in turn obtained An Historical Account of the Incorporated Society alongside the hundreds of other books Isaac Norris Sr. amassed. John Dickinson donated the work to Dickinson College in 1784 (Korey, 21).

Until 1934, An Historical Account of the Incorporated Society was accessible for Dickinson students and faculty at the normal shelves of the Dickinson College Library. Instead of King George II, young Dickinson College students read An Historical Account of the Incorporated Society. These students (including myself) read the work to learn about the religious demography of early modern North America and how the British elite viewed North America from a religious perspective. Many of these Dickinson students likely studied theology, especially in the nineteenth century as the Second Great Awakening spurred religious fervor on Dickinson College campus in particular (Revival of Religion).

Undoubtedly, numerous students read the book across centuries, as indicated by the poor condition the tome exists in today. No front cover remains, and few parts of the spine endure. There is no physical evidence of repairs to the book, indicating that after its move to the Dickinson College Archives in the 1930s, conservators prioritized repairing/rebinding other more well-known works or those in even worse condition instead. In the future, a new audience may emerge for An Historical Account of the Incorporated Society, possibly scholars focusing on eighteenth century British/North American religious history rather than King George II or Dickinson College students.



Works Cited

“Act of Settlement” UK Parliament. Accessed 1 December 2024.

legislation.gov.uk/aep/Will3/12-13/2/data.pdf.

Foucault, Michel. “What is an Author?.” The Book History Reader, edited by David Finkelstein

and Alistair McCleery, Routledge, 2002.

Humphreys, David. An Historical Account of the Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts Containing their Foundation, Proceedings, and the Succeses of their Missionaries in the British Colonies, to the Year 1728. London: The Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, 1730.

Korey, Marie Elena. The Books of Isaac Norris (1701-1766) at Dickinson College. Carlisle, PA, Dickinson College, 1975/1976.

“Revival of Religion.” The Religious Intelligencer, 18 Jan. 1823,

proquest.com/docview/137429704/pageviewPDF/A2297C93E1CB46F4PQ/1?accountid=10506&sourcetype=Magazines. Accessed 15 October 2024.