Item #46391 A Sermon Against Witchcraft, Preached in The Parish Church of Great Paxton, in the County of Huntingdon, July 17, 1808. With a Brief Account of the Circumstances Which led to two Atrocious attacks on the Person of Ann Izzard, as a Reputed Witch. Rev. Isaac NICHOLSON.
A Sermon Against Witchcraft, Preached in The Parish Church of Great Paxton, in the County of Huntingdon, July 17, 1808. With a Brief Account of the Circumstances Which led to two Atrocious attacks on the Person of Ann Izzard, as a Reputed Witch.

A Sermon Against Witchcraft, Preached in The Parish Church of Great Paxton, in the County of Huntingdon, July 17, 1808. With a Brief Account of the Circumstances Which led to two Atrocious attacks on the Person of Ann Izzard, as a Reputed Witch.

London: Printed for J. Mawman, Poultry, 1808. First Edition. Hardcover. Tall, slim octavo. (ii) + x + 36pp. Modern gray cloth binding, gilt rules & gilt-lettered leather strip on spine. The author, the Rev. Isaac Nicholson, gives a first hand account of a "witch panic" that seized the villagers of Great Paxton in Huntingdonshire, in May 1808, causing them to set upon and nearly murder an elderly woman, Ann Izzard, whom the suspected of witchcraft, and to terrorise a woman Alice Russel who gave her shelter, to such an extent that it led to the latter's untimely death. The book comprises a ten page "account of the circumstances which led to two atrocious attacks on the person of Ann Izzard, as a reputed witch," an extremely learned 35 page sermon denouncing the attacker's action, and a one page note on the legal consequences. A handwritten letter, on a single folded sheet of paper, headed "Great Paxton Vicarage" and dated December 3rd, 1902, is tipped onto the rear pastedown. In it the then Vicar thanks a Mr. Birdsall for the loan of the book, observing, amongst other things, that "It has struck me that the congregation in the village must have been a great deal more intelligent in those days if Mr. Nicholson's sermon made any impression on them." From the collection of Dr. M. H. Coleman, with his ex-libris seal blind-stamped on the front free endpaper. Some pale foxing, heaviest on the title and final pages of the booklet. Still a VG + copy of a very scarce work. Item #46391

Sold

See all items by