[Magnalia Christi Americana: or, The Ecclesiastical History of New-England, from its first planting in the year 1620. unto the year of our Lord 1698]
by Cotton Mather
- Used
- good
- first
- Condition
- Good
- Seller
-
Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: Thomas Parkhurst, 1702. Good. [London]: [Thomas Parkhurst], [1702]. First Edition. Folio (31.5cm.); seven volumes in one; full unadorned contemporary calf; each volume with separate title page and pagination.
Lacking first gathering including title page (title and imprint provided by the ESTC), as well as the map plates and final two leaves of advertisements bound at end of Vol. VII. Boards quite heavily scuffed with extensive exposure along margins, both spine ends pulled, textblock rather finger soiled and brittle with occasional chips and closed tears, most notably long closed tear along gutter of Book One, pp. 15/6, and another long closed tear down the middle of Book Six, pp. 63/4; final leaf of Book Seven worn with small loss of text at bottom fore-edge corner. Overall a Good, unsophisticated and minimally incomplete copy.
Mather's magnum opus hailed by Streeter as "the most famous American book of colonial times and the indispensable source for colonial social history." "Magnalia Christi Americana" details the founding and development of Massachusetts and other early American colonies alongside the cultural and literal genocide of the indigenous populations that first resided there: "So they resolved that they would here pitch their Tents; and Sailing up to the Town of Plymouth [as with an hopeful Prolepsis, my Readers shall now call it; for otherwise by the Indians 'twas called Patuxet]" (Book One, p. 8).
Later sections cover the lives of various notable magistrates and governors, the founding of Harvard College, the development of the New England Church, and the "Wars of the Lord," including Mather's involvement in the Salem Witch trials. This is described in detail in Book Six, in a section recognizably titled "Relating the Wonders of the invisible World in Preternatural Occurrences" (p. 66). The section lists fifteen examples of the "Invisible World," beginning with the famous case of Ann Cole, "a Person of serious Piety," who "was taken with very strange Fits wherein her Tongue was improv'd by a Daemon." Only after her neighbor had been accused of, tried, found guilty, and executed for witchcraft was Cole restored to her previous pious self.
Provenance: Ownership signature of Abigail Whitman dated 1810, at head of gathering B, the first leaf present in this volume, indicating that gathering A was lost relatively early in this copy's existence. Ancestral records point to an Abigail Whitman residing in Connecticut around 1810. The work itself would not appear in a first American edition for another ten years, in 1820.
ESTC T79039; HOWES M391; SABIN 46392; STREETER 658.
Lacking first gathering including title page (title and imprint provided by the ESTC), as well as the map plates and final two leaves of advertisements bound at end of Vol. VII. Boards quite heavily scuffed with extensive exposure along margins, both spine ends pulled, textblock rather finger soiled and brittle with occasional chips and closed tears, most notably long closed tear along gutter of Book One, pp. 15/6, and another long closed tear down the middle of Book Six, pp. 63/4; final leaf of Book Seven worn with small loss of text at bottom fore-edge corner. Overall a Good, unsophisticated and minimally incomplete copy.
Mather's magnum opus hailed by Streeter as "the most famous American book of colonial times and the indispensable source for colonial social history." "Magnalia Christi Americana" details the founding and development of Massachusetts and other early American colonies alongside the cultural and literal genocide of the indigenous populations that first resided there: "So they resolved that they would here pitch their Tents; and Sailing up to the Town of Plymouth [as with an hopeful Prolepsis, my Readers shall now call it; for otherwise by the Indians 'twas called Patuxet]" (Book One, p. 8).
Later sections cover the lives of various notable magistrates and governors, the founding of Harvard College, the development of the New England Church, and the "Wars of the Lord," including Mather's involvement in the Salem Witch trials. This is described in detail in Book Six, in a section recognizably titled "Relating the Wonders of the invisible World in Preternatural Occurrences" (p. 66). The section lists fifteen examples of the "Invisible World," beginning with the famous case of Ann Cole, "a Person of serious Piety," who "was taken with very strange Fits wherein her Tongue was improv'd by a Daemon." Only after her neighbor had been accused of, tried, found guilty, and executed for witchcraft was Cole restored to her previous pious self.
Provenance: Ownership signature of Abigail Whitman dated 1810, at head of gathering B, the first leaf present in this volume, indicating that gathering A was lost relatively early in this copy's existence. Ancestral records point to an Abigail Whitman residing in Connecticut around 1810. The work itself would not appear in a first American edition for another ten years, in 1820.
ESTC T79039; HOWES M391; SABIN 46392; STREETER 658.
Details
- Bookseller
- Capitol Hill Books, ABAA (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 27751
- Title
- [Magnalia Christi Americana: or, The Ecclesiastical History of New-England, from its first planting in the year 1620. unto the year of our Lord 1698]
- Author
- Cotton Mather
- Book Condition
- Used - Good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Publisher
- Thomas Parkhurst
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 1702
Terms of Sale
Capitol Hill Books, ABAA
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including original shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.
About the Seller
Capitol Hill Books, ABAA
Biblio member since 2019
Washington, District of Columbia
About Capitol Hill Books, ABAA
Capitol Hill Books is a used bookstore in the Eastern Market neighborhood of Washington, DC. We have three floors of quality used books, first editions, and rare books.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Folio
- A folio usually indicates a large book size of 15" in height or larger when used in the context of a book description. Further,...
- Title Page
- A page at the front of a book which may contain the title of the book, any subtitles, the authors, contributors, editors, the...
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Leaves
- Very generally, "leaves" refers to the pages of a book, as in the common phrase, "loose-leaf pages." A leaf is a single sheet...
- Gutter
- The inside margin of a book, connecting the pages to the joints near the binding.
- Soiled
- Generally refers to minor discoloration or staining.