A Memoir Of The Rev. W. A. B. Johnson. Missionary Of The Church Missionary Society, In Regent's Town, Sierra Leone. Jowett, William.

First edition, in a charming contemporary binding, of Jowett's memoir of the beloved priest William Johnson, whose popularity as a minister in the village of Regent saw the residents nickname him the "Apostle of Regent". William Augustine Bernard Johnson (1787-1823) travelled to Sierra Leone in 1816 and became an ordained minister in 1817. He was placed in the nearby village of Regent as a minister, a position funded by the Church Mission Society. Johnson's popularity saw the church's congregation exceed its 500-person capacity, and a gallery was built to accommodate the additional 200 attendees. Johnson was forced to travel back to England after falling ill but never reached his destination, instead dying at sea aged 36. William Jowett (1787-1855) was an author and missionary who volunteered overseas for the CMS. He wrote several works and memoirs of Christianity and missionaries overseas and helped organise the publication of the first Amharic Bible. Octavo (170 x 110 mm). Contemporary smooth calf, spine lettered and decorated in gilt, black morocco label, covers panelled in gilt, board edges gilt, turn-ins rolled in blind, marbled endpapers, edges gilt, blue silk book marker. With folding map. Binder's instructions bound in at end, "brown calf, gilt edges, Marriette?"; ownership signature crossed out on recto of front flyleaf. Contemporary shelf label to head of spine, binding lightly rubbed, gutter slightly cracked before rear free endpaper but holding. A very good copy, attractively bound.