GLIMMERINGS IN THE DARK; OR LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF THE OLDEN TIME.
Book Details + Condition: Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. (London). Scarce first edition from 1850. Hardcover octavo, 334 pages. Original cloth boards with spine labels. A thorough and broad-ranging volume, with chapters including: Monastic Communities; Witchcraft and Magic; Philosophy and Magic or the Persecution of the Learned; Rewards of Literature or the Affluence of Authors in the Dark Ages; The History of Relics; On the Tradition of the Holy Cross, Miracles and Mesmerism; The History of Leechcraft in the Dark Ages; Marriage Ceremonies; Slavery in England; Perils of Heresy and Unbelief, and much more. Frederick Somner Merryweather (1827-1900) was a British writer who specialized in "curiosities" — books on the weird and quirky in history. A solid copy, with rubbing to corners, edges and spine ends; bookplate on inside front board; text is clean and unmarked save ink notes on rear inside board and small bookseller stamp.
