John Witherspoon (1723 - 1794) owned:
A narrative of the expedition to Botany Bay; with an account of New South Wales, its productions; inhabitants, &c. To which is subjoined, a list of the civil & military establishments at Port Jackson by Watkin Tench
The history of the arts & sciences of the antients, under the following heads: in three volumes. Vol. I. Agriculture, commerce, architecture, sculpture, painting, music, the art military. Vol. II. Art military, grammar, philology, rhetoric, poetry. Vol. III. Poetry, history, eloquence, philosophy, civil law, metaphysics & physics, physic, botany, chymisty [sic], anatomy, mathematics, geometry, astronomy, arithmetic, geography, & navigation by Charles Rollin
Witherspoon was a Scottish-American Presbyterian minister & president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). The only clergyman & college president to sign the Declaration of Independence.
Born in Gifford, Scotland, Witherspoon was educated at the University of Edinburgh, taking a Masters of Arts degree in 1739. He was pastor at the Presbyterian churches of Beith (1745-1758) & Paisley (1758-1768), during which time he wrote several theological works.
In 1768, Witherspoon accepted the invitation to become the 6th president of the College of New Jersey, where he taught the senior moral philosophy course & instituted several key curricular reforms.
Witherspoon was an early supporter of the American struggle against Britain, joining a local committee of correspondence in 1774. He was elected a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, serving there from June 1776 - November 1782. Following the Revolution, Witherspoon took on the responsibility of rebuilding the damaged campus, served 2 terms in the state legislature, & supported ratification of the Constitution. He died in 1794 & is buried in the Princeton Cemetery.
Witherspoon was an early supporter of the American struggle against Britain, joining a local committee of correspondence in 1774. He was elected a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, serving there from June 1776 - November 1782. Following the Revolution, Witherspoon took on the responsibility of rebuilding the damaged campus, served 2 terms in the state legislature, & supported ratification of the Constitution. He died in 1794 & is buried in the Princeton Cemetery.
Those volumes included here are from the collections of Firestone Library at Princeton University.
