A[insworth] (H[enry]) The Communion of Saincts. A treatise of the fellowship that the faithful have with God, and his angels, first edition, title within woodcut typographic border, woodcut head- and tail-pieces and decorative initials, lacking blank *8, very small tear to upper inner corner of title (without loss), N4 torn at upper corner with loss of text, final 3 ff. closely trimmed at outer margin, just touching a little text, some water-staining and spotting, lightly browned, later (?19th century) sheep pastiche of a contemporary binding, spine in compartments and with morocco label, spine ends and corners worn, upper joint split (cover still intact), rubbed and scuffed, [STC 228], 8vo, Amsterdam, Giles Thorp, 1607.

⁂ Rare, with only five copies recorded by USTC. We can trace only one appearance at auction (1962, bought by Quaritch). Ainsworth (1571-1622) was an English Separatist, who split from the Church of England. Persecuted in England he fled to Amsterdam, where early on he worked as a porter to a bookseller. He later became a teacher of Francis Johnson's church. On 15th December, 1610, he split from Johnson's church and later invested money in the 1620 Mayflower voyage to the New World. In the end his church did not join the venture, but instead waved off the pilgrims at Leiden. He is considered one of the finest Hebrew scholars of his day, and was an integral part of an Amsterdam circle of English Hebraists who published commentaries and translations of several books of the Old Testament.