The Mather Literature

Holmes, Thomas J.

Published by William Gwinn Mather, Cleveland, 1927

About this Item

12mo., 7 1/2 x 4 1/2 in. (190 x 115 mm); pp.vii + 64 + i. 1/4 binding in brown levant by Whitman Bennet, New York (ticket on inside back cover), marbled boards, gilt title on spine, t.e.g., back board detached, pages clean and fresh. Marked in pen on limitation page as copy 243 of 250. This is the text of a paper read by Holmes, librarian of the William Gwinn Mather Library, at the Rowfant Club, and published privately by him. Cotton Mather (1663 1728) was a New England Puritan clergyman and a prolific writer. Educated at Harvard College, he was a major intellectual and public figure in English-speaking colonial America, Mather's subsequent involvement in the Salem witch trials of 1692 1693, which he defended in the book Wonders of the Invisible World (1693), attracted intense controversy in his own day and has negatively affected his historical reputation. Mather unsuccessfully sought the presidency of Harvard College, and later championed the new Yale College as an intellectual bulwark of Puritanism in New England. He corresponded extensively with European intellectuals and was a promoter of the new experimental science in America. This booklet has a chapter dedicated to his promotion of inoculation against smallpox, which caused much controversy in tis day. Benjamin Franklin, who participated in the anti-inoculation campaign, later described Mather's book Bonifacius, or Essays to Do Good (1710) as a major influence on his life. Seller Inventory # 864

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Mather Literature

Publisher: William Gwinn Mather, Cleveland

Publication Date: 1927

Condition: Good

Edition: Liimited edition.