Magnalia Christi Americana; or, The Ecclesiastical History of New-England, from its First Planting, in the Year 1620, unto the Year of Our Lord 1698. In Seven Books., In Two Volumes, with an Introduction and Occasional Notes, and Translations of the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin Quotations.

MATHER, Cotton; Thomas Robbins; Lucius F. Robinson [Harriet Beecher Stowe].

Item Number: 110388

Hartford: Silas Andrus & Son, 1853.

One of among the most important copies of one of the most important works of American history and religion; a foundational work of New England history. Second American edition, including a new preface and the preface from the 1820 edition. Octavo, two volumes, bound in three quarters leather, gilt titles to the spine. Brown leather spine & corners, grey cloth boards, gilt titles & rules, red page ridges, blue endpapers, frontispiece of Mather to volume one. Cotton Mather was the grandson of two of the founding ministers of Massachusetts. Sabin 46393. Howes M-391: The “most famous 18th century American book.” This copy belonged to the Stowe family, and is quite likely the precise copy referenced in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Poganuc People: “It was a happy hour when [father] brought home and set up in his book-case Cotton Mather’s “Magnalia,” in a new edition of two volumes” (Baker, America’s Gothic Fiction: The Legacy of Magnalia Christi America, p. 5). Harriet is noted as among the authors influenced by this title (Hall’s Dictionary of National Biography). Given the importance of this work, and it’s influence on Harriet, it is likely that it was passed down from her father Lyman to her family. Her husband Calvin’s ownership stamp (‘Rev. C.E. Stowe, Hartford, Conn.’) appears on the title page of each. Signatures of Charles E. Stowe (‘Chas. E Stowe’) and Lyman Beecher Stowe on the front endpaper of each volume, indicating that it was also passed down from her to Charles (her son), and then to Lyman (her grandson). In near fine condition. Despite the reference in the title, this edition does not appear to have been issued with a map. Minor pencil marginalia with a few sentences underlined, ostensibly by one of the Stowes, and with a brief note on p. 70 that appears to be in Calvin’s hand (based on comparison with one of his letters in the Beecher-Stowe family papers held by Harvard University’s Schlesinger Library). In very good condition, engraving of Oliver Cromwell mounted opposite title of volume two. An exceptional association.

Mather's magnum opus consists of seven "books" collected into two volumes, and it details the religious development of Massachusetts, and other nearby colonies in New England from 1620 to 1698. Notable parts of the book include Mather's descriptions of the Salem witch trials, in which he criticizes some of the methods of the court and attempts to distance himself from the event; his account of the escape of Hannah Dustan, one of the best known captivity narratives; his complete "catalogus" of all the students who graduated from Harvard College, the story of the founding of Harvard College itself; and his assertions that Puritan slaveholders should do more to convert their slaves to Christianity. "The most famous 18th century American book" and one which Streeter describes as "the most famous American book of colonial times." Mather's is rightly considered an indispensable source for the history of New England in the 17th century, both for its biographies and its history of civil, religious, and military affairs.