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COTTON & INCREASE MATHER — THE WONDERS OF THE INVISIBLE WORLDSALEM WITCH TRIALSLONDON, 1862FIRST EDITION THUSORIGINAL DECORATED CLOTHCOTTON MATHER PORTRAIT
MATHER, Cotton; MATHER, Increase. The Wonders of the Invisible World. Being an Account of the Tryals of Several Witches Lately Executed in New-England. To Which Is Added A Farther Account of the Tryals of the New-England Witches.
London: John Russell Smith, Soho Square, 1862.
First edition of this important nineteenth-century collected reprinting.
Octavo. xvi, 291 pp.
Portrait frontispiece of Cotton Mather.
Original burgundy publisher’s cloth with blind-stamped borders and central ornaments, gilt-lettered spine, pale yellow endpapers, and untrimmed edges.
Issued in John Russell Smith’s Library of Old Authors series.
A MAJOR SOURCE FOR THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS
Cotton Mather’s Wonders of the Invisible World was first published in 1693 in the immediate aftermath of the Salem prosecutions and remains one of the principal contemporary printed accounts of the trials.
The text includes material concerning the trials of:
- George Burroughs
- Bridget Bishop
- Susanna Martin
- Elizabeth How
- Martha Carrier
Mather records accusations, testimony, examinations, supposed supernatural manifestations, and arguments used in the prosecution of witchcraft.
MULTIPLE SALEM TEXTS IN ONE VOLUME
This 1862 edition brings together several important contemporary accounts.
Included are:
Cotton Mather — The Wonders of the Invisible World
A Farther Account of the Tryals of the New-England Witches
Deodat Lawson — contemporary narrative of the disturbances at Salem Village
Increase Mather — Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits Personating Men, Witchcrafts, Infallible Proofs of Guilt in Such as Are Accused with That Crime
The Lawson material begins at page 201, while Increase Mather’s Cases of Conscience begins at page 219. Google Books
The inclusion of Increase Mather is especially important because Cases of Conscience addresses the danger of unreliable evidence and the possibility that innocent persons might be impersonated by evil spirits.
FIRST EDITION THUS — 1862
Published in London by John Russell Smith in 1862.
Bibliographic records confirm the edition as xvi, 291 pages. Google Books
The volume reproduces seventeenth-century title pages and typography in an antiquarian format and was issued as part of Smith’s Library of Old Authors.
ORIGINAL PUBLISHER’S BINDING
Especially desirable in its original Victorian binding:
- burgundy / plum cloth
- blind-stamped decorative borders
- central interlaced ornament to both boards
- gilt spine title
- paired gilt spine rules
- pale yellow coated endpapers
- untrimmed edges
The original cloth survives attractively and gives the book strong shelf presence.
COTTON MATHER PORTRAIT
The volume includes the engraved portrait frontispiece of Cotton Mather.
There is some expected offsetting around the portrait and title page, but the image remains clear and attractive.
PROVENANCE
Front pastedown with the pictorial ex libris of:
Carroll Alton Means
showing printers working at an early hand press.
The American Antiquarian Society records Carroll Alton Means among known bookplate owners. American Antiquarian Society
Also present are neat old pencil bookseller’s notes and an old price notation.
CONDITION
Very Good+ overall.
The original publisher’s cloth remains square, firm, and attractive.
The cloth retains strong color with only modest rubbing and shelf wear.
There is slight softening and very small loss at the head of the spine, with light wear at the foot and corners.
The spine gilt remains clear and bright.
Both boards remain firmly attached.
Inner hinges are sound.
There is a tiny area of surface-paper loss near the front endpaper fold.
Internally generally clean and fresh, with normal light age toning, occasional spotting, and some offsetting around the portrait frontispiece and title page.
No significant tears, underlining, or modern ink annotations observed.
Complete through page frontispiece of Cotton Mather
general title pagereproduced seventeenth-century title pagescomplete textLawson narrativeIncrease Mather’s Cases of ConsciencePlease examine all photographs carefully for binding condition, spine ends, portrait, title pages, bookplate, and internal condition.
DETAILS
Authors: Cotton Mather; Increase Mather
Title: The Wonders of the Invisible World
Publisher: John Russell Smith
Place: London
Date: 1862
Edition: First edition thus
Series: Library of Old Authors
Pagination: xvi, 291 pp.
Illustration: Cotton Mather portrait frontispiece
Binding: Original burgundy publisher’s cloth
Edges: Untrimmed
Provenance: Carroll Alton Means bookplate
A particularly attractive original-cloth copy of the important 1862 collected edition of the contemporary Salem witch-trial texts.
