Infant Salvation: An essay to prove the salvation of all who die in infancy, with answers to objections. Written with a particular view to the consolation of bereaved parents.

Boston: Printed and Sold by James Loring, 1818. sold [with] an 1845 letter from a woman whose daughter just died from Cholera, remarking that “the old belief entertained by some clergymen that infants were lost, must have been terrible” First American Edition, from the second London Edition. Printed wraps, 32mo, 5.5 x 3.5 inches; (2), vi, (7)-71, (3)pp. Very Good with bumping to corners, light residue toward upper spine. Text trimmed nail-bitingly close in sections; page number 43 and first letters on the bottom half of 30-31 partially clipped but not affecting legibility; binding thread pulling at the lower puncture of the last few leaves. Inner wrap with contemporary signature of Samuel Eastman, whose 1843 correspondence with abolitionist William L. Garrison mentions being tired of Boston and the printing trade.

A rare and profound gesture of consolation through publishing, reproducing the text of Thomas Williams’ Infant Salvation, originally printed in 1793. Declining to name names, Williams published the essay in response to “an attempt…made to revive this uncomfortable notion in terms still more harsh and exceptionable, to the no small distress of some individuals, particularly, of parents bleeding with recent bereavements,” citing, “two thirds of the human race die in infancy.” By presenting scriptural evidence to counter specific objections, he hoped to convince even those “who have shuddered at asserting the damnation of millions of infants, [but] have doubted the evidence of their salvation.” (iii)

Twenty-five years later, James Loring published the first American edition after a debate emerged in The American Baptist Magazine and Missionary Intelligencer (ed. Thomas Baldwin) when a review of The History of Baptism by Robert Robinson, printed over several issues beginning in January 1818, condemned that author’s denial of a biblical foundation for infant baptism, and by extension, their salvation. An indignant Rev. David Benedict of Pawtucket, RI, wrote in to defend Robinson, starting a back-and-forth that put infant salvation once more at the forefront of discussion. Loring was also the publisher of the journal (with former apprentices Lincoln & Edmands), and the uncredited review would seem to reflect his position on the issue, if not his actual words.

Theological debate in a religious journal populated by men throwing around terms like “Socinianism” was of little use to the parents whose infants were dying. Loring, also a Deacon, saw the same dynamic playing out that had prompted Williams’ publication in the first place. He was perhaps compelled by his faith and his role in the community to make the text available. But beyond reprinting the text, explicitly written with “particular view to the consolation of bereaved parents,” Loring packaged the work such that it became an act of consolation itself.

Loring’s editorial hand is evident in his choice to insert a poem (“Lines on the Death of a Child at Day Break” by Rev. Richard Cecil) between the preface and introduction, as if to assure parents they’re in friendly waters. He’s also appended an excerpt from The Mourner: or the Afflicted Relieved by Benjamin Grosvenor, with prefatory remarks: “Whether the Arguments advanced in the preceding pages are scriptural or not, the reader will judge for himself. There is, however, one consideration, which ought to satisfy every person… The Judge of all the earth does right.” Both additions are unique to Loring’s printing.

More subtly, he evokes pathos through print design. The highly unusual script heading is poignant in its intentionality—typography as a kind of kindness. It’s not particularly fancy and scarcely even ornamental, but Loring, the consummate printer, perhaps understood that while INFANT SALVATION is a confrontation; but, Infant Salvation could be a promise. The decorative border on the cover, latched with exclamation points, is another simple gesture of exquisite care.

Loring, with partner William Manning, was among the most prolific and skilled printers in Boston at the turn of the century. Established in 1793, they printed work for major publishers in every field, including religious works (of all denominations) and American editions of popular British titles. Charles Evans was highly complementary of the firm’s attention to detail and use of novel techniques like hot pressing and developing new type. Both men were prominent “establishment Baptists” at a time when traditionally separatist New England Baptist denominations were becoming increasingly institutionalized. They were connected with the Warren Baptist Association and did the first printing of the Baptist Catechism in America (1795). By 1815, Manning had relocated to Worcester as publisher of the Massachusetts Spy. In 1819, Loring founded a new Baptist weekly publication, the “Christian Watchman,” which became the longest-running Baptist weekly. He also began to produce more juvenile titles, establishing “Loring’s Sabbath School Book-Store” in the 1820s. He died in 1849 while trying to save a boy from drowning in a frozen pond.

The book itself is rare—never seen at auction and noted only in the Shaw-Shoemaker checklist for 1818, where it is erroneously attributed to “Gray” because of an inscription in the only known copy (confirmed by its current custodians at the Princeton Theological Seminary).

See: Franklin, Boston Printers, Publishers and Booksellers: 1640-1800 (1980); The American Baptist Magazine, and Missionary Intelligencer (1817-1818); Armitage, A History of the Baptists (1881). Statistics via Statista / UN-DESA