THE WONDERS OF THE INVISIBLE WORLD. BEING AN ACCOUNT OF THE TRYALS OF SEVERAL WITCHES LATELY EXECUTED IN NEW ENGLAND. (BY COTTON MATHER) TO WHICH IS ADDED A FARTHER ACCOUNT OF THE TRYALS OF THESE NEW-ENGLAND WITCHES BY INCREASE MATHER.
Book Details + Condition: John Russell Smith (London). First Edition thus, 1862. Hardcover. 291 pages. Includes a frontis portrait of Mather, as well as a facsimile of the original title pages (2). This is the first lengthy account of the trials of the accused Salem witches, written by the well noted New England Puritan of his age, Cotton Mather, with latter commentary by his son, Increase Mather. This is the first publication of these classic accounts since the 17th-century first edition in 1693.
From the massive occult collection of King Lawrence Parker - academic, dissertation author, and book collector extraordinaire. Firm binding; lightly rubbed corners and spine ends; slight lean to book; toned pages, with the handcut edges being a bit delicate; bookplate to inside front board (see below); interior is clean and free of markings. Bookplate is that of Olive Percival - author, artist, photographer, gardener, and "modern-day Emily Dickinson and...a prominent figure in Southern California". [pbssocal.org]