Lowrie, John C. A Manual of the Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. New York: William Rankin, Jr., 1868. Third Edition. [7941]
Russet cloth with blind-stamped boards, gilt titles and border to spine, 5 x 7 3/4 inches, bookplate "Williams Proudfit Teachers' Library" inside front. 359 clean pp., tight. 13 x 8 1/2 inch folding map in color dated 1868 and executed by Colton's of New York City, of the Indian Tribes within the United States, made expressly for this work. Map is in fine condition.
After a description of the importance of Christian missions and of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions, there are chapters on their missions among American Indians, in Western Africa, North India, Siam, China, Japan, in Roman Catholic Countries, and to the Jews. There is list of missionaries and years served, as well as 150 pages of memoirs of individual missionaries. Finally, the Appendix has statistics and other matter relating to Protestant world missions.
John Cameron Lowrie (1808-1890), b. Butler, Pennsylvania; d. East Orange, New Jersey. Educated in Jefferson College (PA) and at the Allegheny and Princeton Theological Seminaries. He was one of the first Presbyterian missionaries to India, sent out in 1833. Returning to the US after problems with his health and the death of his wife, he devoted the rest of f his life to the promotion of the missionary work of the Presbyterian Church. He was Assistant Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions (1838-1850), and Secretary of the same Board (1850-1891). He was also pastor of the Forty-second Street Presbyterian Church of New York (1846-1850).
Rev. Lowrie wrote extensively on the subject of missions, and also wrote a biography of his father, Rev. Walter Lowrie, who was a missionary to China.
The bookplate is associated with the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Williams Proudfit was a student of the Class of 1877, who was killed in 1875 in a carriage accident. His parents donated in his name for several additions to the Institute.
