A Biographical Dictionary, containing a Brief Account of the First Settlers, and other Eminent Characters among the Magistrates, Ministers, Literary and Worthy Men, in New England. By John Eliot, D. D. Published by Cushing and Appleton, Salem, and Edward Oliver, Boston, 1809. 

This is the copy of James Kirke Paulding (1778-1860). Paulding was a leading American writer of his day; was close friends with Washington Irving, with whom he wrote Salmagundi; and also held a series of important government posts, culminating in serving as Secretary of the Navy. This copy has his bookplate inside the front cover and his signature on the title page (the signature of his son William Irving Paulding underneath). He has also penned a critique of the book opposite the title page, and there are a number of notes in the text, some of them quite droll. 

Inscriptions: (the writing was difficult to decipher in cases; there are some [?] and there may well be some errors)

Opposite the Title Page: "This Biographical compilation contains some articles of interest, but is principally devoted to Priests, Pedagogues, Deacons, Selectmen, and other small fry, all of whom would be sufficiently commemorated on a tombstone. There is no country in the world to which the lines of Cowper on reading a similar biographical work would better apply than to New England -

'On fond attempt to give a deathless lot,

To names ignoble, born to be forgot -

Thus when a child, as playful children use,

Has burnt to tinder a stale last year's news,

The flame extinct he views the roving fire,

There goes my lady, and there goes the Squire,

There goes the parson, oh illustrious spark,

And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk."

He then goes on to quote "John Adams to Elkanah Watson, August 10, 1812. Memoirs p. 435. 'I am not flattered by your promise of a place in Biography, if you mean such as that by Elliot, or even Allen. I had rather my name should be buried in oblivion. The gross ignorance, the base partiality, and the lazy, hasty, and superficial investigations of both, are to me extremely disgusting.'" 

In the text:

Following the entry on General Thomas Gage, commander of British forces in the early days of the American Revolution: "Genl. Gage married a daughter of Peter Kemble of Mount Kemble of New Jersey and aunt of my wife. He was an amiable man in private life and only obeyed the order of his [sire?] at Boston."

By the entry on Ebenezer Gay, summing him up as a Great and Good Man: "The phrases 'great and good' + 'famous' so plentifully applied to these men - seem rather misplaced. Nobody are heard of these out of New England." 

On the next page, when the name of Cotton Mather crops up: "Another 'famous man'. It appears from his Magnalia that he was a Bigot, a persecutor, a believer in witchcraft and beyond [?] was credulous in every species of superstition." Elsewhere, also provoked (I think) by a mention of Mather, he writes "The Doctor was a great dealer in judgements. 'Judge not', etc." [Paulding makes a couple of sarcastic references to Cotton Mather in his Koningsmark, as well as in a few of his other works]. 

Next to a (somewhat unfavorable) article on Franklin: "The whole of this article is written in the spirit of a bigoted [venom?] minded Pindar."

Under a remark how the first settlers left their own countries in search of religious freedom, he remarks, "They did not bring these principles of religious freedom with them only persecuted all who differed from their 'platform'." 

Condition: Externally, leather shows wear and chipping at edges, corners, and hinge areas; surfaces show some scuffs and chips. Pages show some scattered foxing (a small number of pages are heavily foxed); offsetting; some minor edge tears and chips; some creasing; there are a handful or two of pencil 'x' marks and side-lines regarding which I am uncertain as to whether they are from Paulding. The boards are serviceably attached; the binding is reasonably firm. Overall, Good+.