Journal of a Voyage from Savannah to Philadelphia, and from Philadelphia to England, M,DCC.XL

London: Printed. And sold by the following booksellers and pamphlet shops. ... As Also by the booksellers in New-England, New-York, Philadelphia, and Charles-Town, 1740. Good plus.. [6],87,[1]pp. Lacks half-title. 19th-century half morocco and marbled boards, spine gilt. Spine and corners worn, spine ends chipped, front hinge cracked. First signature loosening. Title page lightly soiled, text lightly toned. Final leaf with additional pasted advertisement. Narrative written by William Seward (1711-1740), recounting his travels with Rev. George Whitefield during his revival tour of the South which would become known as the "Great Awakening." "Seward now began to travel with Whitefield, and joined him on his first and most triumphant American tour, in August 1739. There he acted as Whitefield's publicist, providing newspapers and booksellers with extracts of Whitefield's own writing as well as a series of partly fabricated stories which, blurring the boundary between news reporting and advertisement, did much to enhance the apparent impact of the tour. Not least he also supported Whitefield generously from his own pocket. ... Three months later William, who had given Whitefield valuable service in America by securing the advance contacts he needed to make his tours a success, was back in England on Whitefield's instructions...to bring out John Hutchings, one of the Oxford Methodists, to manage Whitefield's orphan house in Georgia; to persuade the Georgia trustees that their colony would not succeed without negro slavery, allowing a title to lands there and an independent magistracy; to collect money for a negro school in Pennsylvania; and to bring over money already in the hands of trustees for building a church at Savannah. Seward had already bought Whitefield 5000 acres on the forks of the Delaware to establish an evangelical refuge in the style of Herrnhut, and a negro school. ... His arrival increased the theological tension between Whitefield and the Wesley brothers, who did not care for Seward's Journal of a Voyage from Savannah ... to England, published in 1740" - ANB. Seward died several months later, purportedly from an injury resulting from a stone thrown at his head while preaching.

Though not institutionally rare, the last copies in auction records appeared in the 1990s. An important early narrative of travel in the American South, as well as a key work recording this period of religious upheaval.

ESTC T29206. Howes S307, "aa." Evans 4598. De Renne 1:86. Sabin 79495. ANB (online).