A Master-Key To Popery: In Five Parts… Containing A Discourse of The Most Secret Practices Of The Secular And Romish Priests In The Auricular Confession…

200 pp. Later ¾ morocco and cloth. Gilt. Ink signature on title, spme extremity wear, some foxing and browning; else very good. The 1st American edition recorded in Evans as one of the most widely circulated works of anti-Catholic invective ever written, based on the 3rd London edition. Gavin who was born and studied in Spain, and receiving his ordination in the Church of Rome as a secular priest, he declared himself a Protestant and escaped to England in the guise of an army officer. In 1715, he was appointed Minister of the Church of England. The DNB refers to this work "as a farrago of lies and libels, interspersed with indecent tales…." It was very popular among British and European readers.