Book of Common Prayer, from the library of Liverpool slave trader Moses Benson

The Book of Common Prayer, and administration of the sacraments, and other rites and ceremonies of the church, according to the use of the Church of England: Together with the Psalter or Psalms of David. Oxford, Printed by T. Wright and W. Gill [...] and sold by S. Crowder, in Paternoster Row, London; and by W. Jackson, in the High Street, Oxford, 1775.

[Bound with:]

Nicholas Brady & Nahum Tate.

A new version of the Psalms of David, fitted to the tunes used in churches. London, printed by H.S. Woodfalls for the Company of Stationers, 1775.

An uncommon and attractive 4to edition of the Book of Common Prayer. From the library of Liverpool slave trader Moses Benson (1738-1806), with his red morocco library label on the front board.

In the 1760s, Benson became a captain in the West Indies trade for Abraham Rawlinson, a Lancaster merchant. Benson served as Rawlinson's agent in Jamaica before forming his own trading company. In the West Indies he acquired a considerable fortune before returning to Liverpool in 1775, where he entered the slave trade. The SlaveVoyages website lists over 80 slave voyages between 1775 and 1806 in which he was involved. It's no surprise, then, that slavery provided much of Liverpool's wealth.