Magnalia Christi Americana: or, the Ecclesiastical History of

1702. MATHER, Cotton. 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.... London: Thomas Parkhurst, 1702. Seven parts bound in one volume. [2],[30],38,[2],75,[2],238,[2],125-222,100,[2],88,118pp. plus double-page map and four pages of advertisements. Text printed in double columns. Without errata leaves, as usual. Folio. Bound to style in modern paneled calf, spine with raised bands and gilt leather label. A few leaves with contemporary or early ink underlining and marginal bracketing. Contemporary ink notes on front endpaper and two rear endpapers. Marginal repairs to a few leaves, very occasional ink notations in text. Very good. The first edition of what Streeter calls "the most famous American book of colonial times." Mather's opus is 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. Much of the book's value rests in its incomparable wealth of detail regarding daily life in early colonial New England. David Hall has referred to it as "a mirror of the 1690s," the decade in which most of it was written. Far from being a dull chronicle of events, the MAGNALIA... is full of lively biographical pieces, vivid descriptions of the times, and many surprising sidelights. It has been mined by all modern scholars of social history for its unsurpassed view of New England at the end of the 17th century. The map, which depicts New England, Long Island, and eastern New York, has been labeled by cartographic historian Barbara McCorkle as "the first eighteenth-century general map of New England." It was probably adopted from "A New Map of New England. New York. New Iarsey. Pensilvania. Maryland. and Virginia," likely composed by Phillip Lea in 1680. A landmark in colonial New England history, and a book of increasing rarity, especially in nice condition. HOWES M391, "b." STREETER SALE 658. EUROPEAN AMERICANA 702/127. HOLMES, COTTON MATHER 213. SABIN 46392. CHURCH 806. McCORKLE 702.3, 680.4 (ref). CUMMING, BRITISH MAPS OF COLONIAL AMERICA, pp.31-33. MapForum, PRINTED MAPS OF NEW ENGLAND TO 1780, 1702:01. SCHWARTZ & EHRENBERG, pp.133-34.