Salem Witchcraft; Comprising More Wonders of the Invisible World. Collected by Robert Calef; and Wonders of the Invisible World, by Cotton Mather: together with notes and explanations by Samuel P. Fowler.
Boston: William Veazie, 1865. Limited edition. Hardcover. Small quarto. 450pp. Original green pebbled cloth with printed title label to spine, appendix, title page lettered in red and black with b&w vignette. Edition limited to 250 copies. Two significant accounts of the Salem witch trials, published together with "notes and explanations" by Samuel P. Fowler. Fowler (1800-1888) was a Boston-based historian of New England, with a particular interest in the witch trials. The accounts are "Wonders of the Invisible World," by Cotton Mather and "More Wonders of the Invisible World" by Robert Calef. Both were written from primary sources: Mather's book although somewhat critical, was actually written at the request of the judges, and defended the legality of their adjudication. "More Wonders of the Invisible World" was a very effective and damning treatise written by Robert Calef (c. 1648-1719) in 1700, examining the Salem witch trials, and excorciating Cotton Mather and the other clergy who took part in them. The book was so controversial that no Boston publisher would touch it, and a burning of copies of the English printed first edition was held at Harvard. Fowler's omnibus volume was first published by Ives and Smith in Salem in 1861. This, the first Boston edition, was published in 1865. Boards lightly rubbed, corners and spine ends bumped and chafed, spine label unevenly darkened & rubbed with some light chipping to edges, page edges a little darkened and pages toned. Overall a tight, clean VG+ copy. Scarce. Item #62681
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