Beschreibung:

MATHER, Increase (1639-1723). A Brief Relation of the Troubles which have hapned in New-England, By Reason of the Indians there. From the year 1614 to the Year 1685. Wherein the frequent Conspiracys of the Indians to cutt off the English, and the wonderfull providence of God, in disappointing their devices, is declared. Boston: John Foster 1677. 4 o (183 x 140 mm). (First three leaves in facsimile, minor marginal wear.) Modern gilt-panelled calf, gilt-lettered spine label. FIRST EDITION. Bound without the separately printed tract mentioned on the title ( A Historical Discourse concerning the Prevalency of Prayer , Church 653). The work is among the first efforts to compile a history of the English colonists' wars with the Indians of New England, the second part specifically devoted to the Pequot War. Mather is notably careful to cite his sources: interviews with surviving early colonists, letters, "a large manuscript of Governor Bradford's (written with his own hand)," "the publick Records of the Colonys," and printed sources like de Laet, John Smith Purchas, and others). Church 654 ("traces the wars with the Indians from 1614, including the causes of King Philip's War, and was written to supply the deficiency in Hubbard's Narrative of the Troubles ," see previous lot); Evans 238; Sabin 46727. VERY RARE: Only one copy has been offered at auction since at least 1970. "One of the scarcest of Mather's tracts" (Church).