West, Elisabeth. Memoirs, or Spiritual Exercises of Elisabeth West: Written by her own hand; Corrected by an American Gentleman. Exeter: Printed by C. Norris, 1817. First American, from the last Edinburgh Edition. [9987]
Full calf over wooden boards, joints fine, some edge-wear, "West's Memoirs" in gilt on the black calf title label. 12.5 x 7 cm (5 x 3 inches), portrait of West as frontispiece, bottom margin of which is torn with loss under her name. 282 pp. + 5 pp. subscriber's list. Very good.
Shaw & Shoemaker 42872.
The birth date of Elisabeth West is unknown; her father died in the year 1700. She was active in the 1690s to about 1709. Elisabeth was a literate servant in Edinburgh, and was encouraged by her minister the Rev. George Meldrum of the Tron Kirk to keep a record of her experiences. The record begins in 1694 and ends in 1709. Over the course of her memoir she becomes a strong advocate for Cameroniansim - the Covenanters - and in the final pages she writes of the impassable void between presbytery and prelacy, referencing John Knox, Alexander Shields, and quotes Samuel Rutherford.