Journal of No. 118

I don't own many books from the 19th century, but this is my first from the 18th century.



You can read the 1823 version on Google Books (which is probably what I will do, since this puppy is a bit fragile. Mine is the 1796 version printed at Salem. The original publication was done in London, mainly because Boston publishers wouldn't touch it in 1700, not long after the Salem Witch Trials.

The author/compiler, Robert Calef, was critical of the witch trials, and Cotton Mather's part in them.

You can maybe see the pinholes along the left-hand page. They are marks from the library of the Meadville Theological School, founded in 1844 as a Unitarian seminary in Meadville, PA.

An inscription on the endpaper reads Samuel Clark, Cumberland RI[?] -- not quite sure about the script-y I, but since there is such a town in Rhode Island, I think it's a safe bet. It's a pretty common-sounding name, but let's be generous and connect this Sam Clark to the one referred to here:

Mrs. Whipple is a descendant of one of the oldest and best known families of Cumberland. The first of the Clark name in this town was Samuel Clark. His first wife's name was Rachel and his second, Elizabeth [nee Barney]. His children were ... The father died in 1817.

Another note written along the gutter of the first page of the text reads "J.R. Tyson Feb. 10/28 $4.50".

At the end is a darling advertisement from a bookseller.


[a few more books]...
likewise
a large assortment of
STATIONARY,
of every kind.

* *
* Printing and book-binding done with that neatness and dispatch which ever insures satisfaction.