Mather Magnalia Christi Americana

MATHER, Cotton (1663-1728).
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.
London: Thomas Parkhurst, 1702.
Comparable: Christie's, 2010 - $10,000.
7 parts in one volume, folio (12 x 7 ¾ in.; 30.5 x 19.7 cm). Title within double-ruled border, 7 section titles, engraved folding map of New England and New York, text in double columns, 2-page publisher’s advertisement at the end; title mounted, map silked with small marginal repair along fold on bottom margin, neat repair to tear on 2C4 crossing 11 text lines, 2 short tears to top margin of 6E4, lacks blank 6M2. Early 20th calf gilt, edges gilt.
FIRST EDITION. An indispensable source for colonial social history including civil, religious, and military affairs t the end of the seventeenth century and is equally noteworthy for its lively biographies. The map, which depicts New England, Long Island, and eastern New York has been described by cartographic historian Barbara McCorkle as the “first eighteenth-century general map of New England.
The book is divided into seven parts: 1) the history and settlement of New England; 2) the lives of its governors and magistrates; 3) biographies of “Sixty Famous Divines”—among them the principal authors of the celebrated Bay Psalm Book (1640): John Cotton, Richard Mather, John Eliot, John Wilson, and Peter Bulkeley; 4) a history and roll of Harvard College; 5) a history of the Congregational Church in New England; 6) a record of the remarkable providences revealing God’s direct influence in particular events in the colonies; and 7) the “War of the Lord” dealing with the devil, the Separatists, Familists, Antinomians, Quakers, clerical imposters, and the Indians.
REFERENCES: Alden & Landis 702/127; Church 8-6; ESTC T79039; Grolier American 6; Howes M-392; Sabin 46392; Streeter sale I:658