618J  Andrew Le Mercier, (1692-1763.)

The church history of Geneva, in five books. Wherein the state of religion in that place before Christianity is described; and also how the Gospel was first preached there, and by whom. A catalogue of all the Bishops of Geneva, to the time of the Reformation. The state o that church in times of popery. An exact account of the blessed Reformation. The history of that church from that time to this. And lastly, several things, concerning the church-government, the discipline, the ministers and the manners of that church.

   as BOUND WITH

A geographical and political account of the republick of Geneva. .. By the author of The church history of Geneva.

Boston, New-England : Sold by S. Gerrish, and other booksellers, 1732.

              and

Boston, New-England: Printed by B. Green, and sold at the booksellers shops. 1732.                                                    .       Price $1,400

Front cover of 'The Church History of Geneva' by Andrew Le Mercier, published in 1732, featuring the title and author's details.

Octavo, .  ¶ Signatures :π3 A-O⁸;[New title page] A-K⁴ L⁴(-L⁴)  Bound in modern full calf.. Griffin family signatures on rear leaf of a Johnathan Griffin, was born on 29 May 1670, in Charlestown, Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United States, his father, Mathew Griffin, was 40 and his mother, Hannah Cutler, was 36. He married Susanna Carter on 28 November 1698. They were the parents of at least 2 sons and 2 daughters.OR . Jonathan Griffin born on 7 July 1689, in Charlestown, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America, his father, Samuel Griffin, was 29 and his mother, Priscilla Croswell, was 24. He married Mary Upham on 28 May 1713, in Malden, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States. They were the parents of at least 4 sons and 2 daughters. He died in 1752, in Middleton, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America, at the age of 63.

The text block is typically toned with light soiling.

Andrew Le Mercier (1692-1764) was French-born Protestant Huguenot leader in Boston in the 18th century and author.  Le Mercier was born in Normandy, France in 1692, completing clerical studies in Geneva at the then Geneva Academy in 1715 and arrived in Boston (then in the English colony of Province of ) in 1716 recruited by André Faneuil as pastor of the Boston French Church (now 24 School Street) and remained there until 1741 when the church closed.

Le Mercier was graduated at Geneva, and immediately afterwards, in 1715, came to America through the influence of Andrew Faneuil, to succeed Rev. Pierre Daille as pastor of the French Protestant Church in Boston, over which he presided till his death, in 1748. He was the last of the early French Protestant Ministers in that town. The work is dedicated To the most Reverend the Pastors of the Churches of Christ in New-England, and was probably written for their benefit.

Le Mercier was a respected leader amongst the small Huguenot community that existed in New England for almost three decades.

The title page of a book titled 'A Geographical and Political Account of the Republick of Geneva', printed in Boston in 1732. The page includes the book's title, a description of its content, and the author's name linked to the Church History of Geneva.

“In 1729, French Protestant minister André Le Mercier worked, along with 13 other ministers, to create the Presbytery of Londonderry in New England. This was the first presbytery in New England and the only colonial presbytery that ever attracted a Huguenot minister (.). For some ministers Le Mercier offered an important bridge between Old and New World religious traditions. In 1732 le Mercier published [this] two-volume work ( ). He was the only minister in all of New England with any direct knowledge of ecclesiastical and church practice in Calvin’s home city, and he took special care to explain Geneva’s parish system to his New England colleagues for whom formal parishes were becoming increasingly important in the eighteenth century” (Jon Butler, ‘The Huguenots in America: A Refugee People in New World Society’, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1983, 88). (Cf. A. Burckhardt, in Bull. de la Soc. de l’Hist. du Protestantisme Français , 1991, p. 613-637.

ESTC System No.  006437899 Evans 3596. Brinley Sales 7593 .

  1. BEDARD Marc-André, Les protestants en Nouvelle-France, collection « Cahiers d’histoire », La Société historique de Québec, Québec, 1978, p. 141

2. Jon Butler, ‘The Huguenots in America: A Refugee People in New World Society’, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1983

3. TRUDEL Marcel, Initiation à la Nouvelle-France, Holt, Rinehart et Winston Limitée, Montréal-Toronto, 1968, p. 323