Charles Ignatius La Trobe

Charles Ignatius La Trobe (1758-1836) spent most of his adult life promoting the cause of Moravian missions, first as secretary to the Society for the Furtherance of the Gospel in 1787, then as editor of the Society’s Periodical Accounts. The Baptist Annual Register included not only “An Account of the Particular Baptist Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Heathen; including a Narrative of its Rise and Plan; with a short Address earnestly recommending this benevolent Design” but also an extract from the papers of Samuel Watson, a Moravian missionary to the West Indies, as well as a printed copy of the La Trobe letter. A letter by La Trobe to John Ryland, with penciled corrections by John Rippon and Ryland, also appeared in the Baptist Annual Register, having incorporated nearly all of Ryland’s and Rippon’s corrections and alterations exactly as they appear on this MS letter. The actual MS letter was published in 2009. When compared with the original letter, we get a rare glimpse into the editing techniques of Rippon (and in many respects late eighteenth-century editors in general) when printing manuscript letters. See Baptist Annual Register, 1:371-378, 1:531-533; Timothy Whelan, ed., Baptist Autographs in the John Rylands University Library of Manchester, 1741-1845 (Macon: Baptist History Series, Mercer University Press, 2009).