[Children's Books]. Watts, Isaac. The First Set of Catechisms. Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 1785

[CHILDREN'S BOOKS]

ISAAC WATTS. THE FIRST SET OF CATECHISMS: OR, THE RELIGION OF THE LITTLE CHILDREN, UNDER SEVEN OR EIGHT YEARS OF AGE. COLLECTED OUT OF THE LARGER BOOKS OF PRAYERS AND CATECHISMS, FOR CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. THE EIGHTH EDITION. PORTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE: PRINTED BY MELCHER AND OSBORNE, 1785

12mo (6 1/2 x 3 3/4 in.; 165 x 95 mm). Lightly browned. Wastepaper wrappers from laws of New Hampshire (probably printed by Melcher); wrappers chipped, detached.

Watts' catechism stands with Milk for Babes, The Protestant Tutor, The New England Primer, and other early New England catechisms, ordered by law to be taught to children. The first American edition was published in Boston in 1745, followed by four more Boston editions, then this Portsmouth edition, all known by only one or two copies.

LITERATURE:

Bristol 6215