An Historical Essay Concerning Witchcraft. With Observations Upon Matters of Fact. (1720)
Description
An Historical Essay Concerning Witchcraft. With Observations Upon Matters of Fact. (1720)
by Francis Hutchinson, D.D.
Full Title: An Historical Essay Concerning Witchcraft. With Observations upon Matters of Fact; Tending to clear the Texts of the Sacred Scriptures, and confute the vulgar Errors about that Point. And Also Two Sermons : One in Proof of the Christian Religion; the other concerning Good and Evil Angels.
7 ¾ x 4 ¾. In English. Published by R. Knaplock and D. Midwinter, London, 1720. This second, enlarged edition includes new material addressing the Salem Witch Trials, which offers dramatic accounts as well as a chapter debunking Cotton Mather and the New England witch hunters. Full, polished calf. Spine with five raised bands. Red label with bright gilt title, “HUTCHINSON’S WITCHCRAFT.” Professional repairs in 2019 to earlier reback, with further restoration to covers and corners. Front pastedown with previous owner’s inscription. Half-title, title, 18pp Dedication, 7pp Contents, 1p Publisher's Catalogue, 336pp total. Moderate browning to title page. Text otherwise mostly crisp and clean, though there may be an occasional page with some imperfections such as occasional foxing, a slight stain, or other minor quirk that comes with a book this age and popularity. Overall, a very collectible copy, the text is fresh and the binding READY FOR DISPLAY. Early editions are somewhat commonly seen in the marketplace; but the cultural significance, general scarcity, and recent restorations make for a must have.
Francis Hutchinson, an Anglican cleric, gathered together all the accounts of English witch trials that he could find. He became a vocal advocate for the "miserable creatures [who] have been hang'd or burnt as witches and wizzards" during the witch persecutions. He was considered "the man who gave the coup de grace to the witch delusion in England" (re: Robbins), leveling "a final and deadly blow at the dying superstition" (re: Notestein). Of most interest to him were the witchcraft accusations in Boston and Salem. Hutchinson analyzed them in a way that argued their absurdity and hypocrisy, thus stripping them of any vestige of legitimacy.
By his own account, Hutchinson's work would probably have lain unpublished had it not been for the 1716 publication of Boulton's "A Compleat [sic] History of Magick [sic], Sorcery and Witchcraft,” a work which Hutchinson felt "very likely do some mischief by renewing the fervour for witch-persecution.” His well-reasoned refutation was published as the "Historical Essay on Witchcraft," and despite a counter rebuttal by Boulton in 1722, Hutchinson effectively brought a permanent close to the debate on witchcraft in Britain. He opposed torture and acceptance of the phenomena and was a critic of Cotton Mather's arguments on the subject. He also opposed Jean Bodin, an advocate of the realities of witchcraft, who was prepared to use torture to prove it.
Hutchinson's account of witchcraft is thoroughly modern: His carefully modest appeal for reform of the laws on witchcraft was indeed heeded, although not for a further decade and a half (re: Gibson). His landmark work on witchcraft is "full of valuable historical details, with many particulars collected by personal inquiry from survivors" (DNB), and features "a chronological table [including] those who were burnt as witches in New England" (re: Allibone, 927). This edition includes chapters on "The Suffolk Witches" and "The Witchcrafts at Boston & in New England."
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Inventory Number: 31678
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