RELIGIOUS POLEMIC · PAPAL HISTORY DISPUTE · MID-GEORGIAN PROTESTANT CONTROVERSY

Bibliographic Details

Author: Bower, Archibald — Title: Six Letters from A---d B---r to Father Sheldon, Provincial of the Jesuits in England; Illustrated with Several Remarkable Facts, Tending to Ascertain the Authenticity of the Said Letters, and the True Character of the Writer. London: Printed for J. Morgan, 1756. First edition. Octavo.

Physical Description

• Pagination: 101 pp., [1].
• Format: Octavo (approx. 8 × 5 inches).
• Binding: Rebound in marbled boards with new blank endpapers.
• Printing: Contemporary eighteenth-century typography with long “s” usage typical of the period.

Condition Report

• Overall: Very good to good.
• Title & final leaf: Some wear and light dirt to the title page and final page.
• Tears: A couple of small closed tears to the gutter of the title page and one small open tear (no text affected).
• Final page: Tiny loss to the lower edge (no text affected).
• Interior: General light sunning to pages, but internally sound and fully legible throughout.

Notes

A first edition of this controversial collection of letters attributed to the Scottish historian and former Jesuit Archibald Bower (1686–1766), a figure whose shifting religious allegiance made him one of the most polarising intellectual personalities of eighteenth-century Britain.

Bower had originally entered the Society of Jesus and spent many years within Catholic institutions before eventually abandoning the order and aligning himself with Protestant interests in Britain. His later writings—particularly his History of the Popes—provoked intense debate and suspicion among both Catholic critics and Protestant supporters.

The present work forms part of that wider controversy. The letters address a disputed financial loan advanced to the Church during Bower’s earlier Jesuit career and the subsequent quarrels surrounding its repayment after his conversion to Protestantism. The text is accompanied by extensive editorial commentary designed to establish the authenticity of the correspondence while shaping the reader’s interpretation of Bower’s conduct and character.

The publication was issued under the direction of John Douglas, later Bishop of Salisbury, a prominent participant in eighteenth-century Protestant polemic. Douglas contributed extensive annotations and appended a biographical account of the historian Francis Bruys, whose History of the Popes was alleged to have been plagiarised by Bower in his own papal history.

As such, the work sits at the intersection of religious controversy, historiographical debate, and political propaganda. It offers a revealing glimpse into the intense confessional tensions of mid-Georgian Britain and remains a valuable primary source for the study of anti-Catholic sentiment, authorship disputes, and the weaponisation of historical scholarship in the eighteenth century.