Celestial Gems, Number One, To be Used in the Public and Private Worship of God

Pittsburgh: Anchor Publishing Co, 1908. First printing. Hardcover. Very Good. First printing, 1908. Tall 8vo, deep blue cloth gilt, 255 pp., mainly hymns, some composed by Leizure himself. about very good, light wear to edges of boards, and old owner's namestamp (and Pittsburgh address) at least 2 dozen times (!). RARE, with no recorded copies on OCLC. Leizure is an interesting figure in Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania history; he appears to have been a prominent land-holder in McKeesport and Glassport, and was convicted on 4 counts of embezzlement in 1898, but by 1911-1912 he was the head of the Pittsburgh Baptist Association. Initially, we thought this to be a Jehovah's Witness item since the book was published on Pittsburgh's North Side, sometimes known as Allegheny, the epicenter of early JW Watchtower publishing, but this appears to be a more general, possibly Baptist, hymnal, and it includes commentary on religious issues by Leizure. A rare Pittsburgh item.