(Charlestown: Printed for the Author, 1814).

FIRST EDITION. Scarce in the original contemporary calf and a very handsome copy. 'Morse was a notable geographer whose textbooks became a staple for students in the United States. He was the father of the telegraphy pioneer and painter Samuel Morse, and his textbooks earned him the sobriquet of "father of American geography.
Throughout his life, Morse was much occupied with religious controversy, and in upholding the faith of the New England church against the assaults of Unitarianism. Ultimately his persevering opposition to liberal views of religion brought on him a persecution that affected deeply his naturally delicate health. He was very active in 1804 in the movement that resulted in enlarging the Massachusetts general assembly of Congregational ministers, and in 1805 unsuccessfully opposed, as a member of the board of overseers, the election of Henry Ware to the Hollis Chair of Divinity at Harvard. The present volume relates to that controversy and is Morse's response to Ms. Adams text on the subject.
He participated in the organization of the Park Street Church in Boston in 1808, when all the Congregational churches of that city, except the Old South Church, had abandoned the orthodox faith.
Morse rebutted certain racist views published in the Encyclopædia Britannica concerning the Native American peoples, e.g., that their women were "slavish" and that their skins and skulls were thicker than those of other humans.
He took great interest in the subject of civilizing and Christianizing the Native Americans, and in 1820 he was appointed by the US secretary of war to visit and observe various tribes on the border, in order to ascertain their actual condition, and to devise the most suitable means for their improvement. This work occupied his attention during two winters, and the results of his investigations were embodied in a Report to the Secretary of War on Indian Affairs (New Haven, 1822).'. Item #29534

First Edition. 8vo, bound in handsome American mottled calf of the period, the spine with gilt bands separating the compartments, green morocco lettering label gilt. viii, 190, [2 contents] pp. A fine and handsome copy, the original binding in excellent condition, the contents clean and crisp and unusually well preserved.