Several wealthy entrepreneurs and social figures in Birmingham and the Midlands in the eighteenth century were from non-conformist families, and this book, the eighth edition of Robert Barclay's Apology for the True Christian Divinity, printed in Birmingham by John Baskerville in 1765, may have been marketed towards the Quakers among them. Baskerville was a shrewd businessman and had excellent contacts with the Lunar Society, an influential group of wealthy Midland entrepreneurs such as Josiah Wedgewood and scientists including Matthew Boulton and Joseph Priestley.

Robert Barclay was an early Quaker and wrote several works explaining the beliefs and religious practices of this community. In the late seventeenth century, Quakers were persecuted for their beliefs and this book was an attempt by Barclay to explain the religion to others. It was first printed in Latin at Amsterdam in 1676, with an English edition following in 1678. Unfortunately, the work did not prevent further persecution and many English and Scottish Quakers travelled to North America to establish settlements in New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania. Barclay himself never travelled to America, but was granted the governorship of the East New Jersey Colony in 1682.