HALE, Matthew

Short Treatise Touching Sheriffs Accompts

HALE, Matthew. Short Treatise Touching Sheriffs Accompts... to which is Added, a Tryal of Witches, at the Assizes held at Bury St. Edmonds, for the County of Suffolk, on the 10th of March 1664. London: Will. Shrowsbery, 1683. Small octavo, modern full green morocco, raised bands, gilt-decorated spine. $4200. First edition of the account of the notorious witchcraft trial at Bury St. Edmonds presided over by Sir Matthew Hale. Norman Library copy. "Hale, one of the most respected and influential justices of Cromwellian and Restoration England, was a firm believer in witchcraft and encouraged the persecution of witches by allowing obviously false and perjured testimony to secure convictions in witch trials... In his statement to the jury, Hale made no doubt at all of the reality of witchcraft, citing the Scriptures and the laws enacted against witchcraft as proof of its existence... Among those testifying at the trial was Thomas Browne, chosen as an expert witness because of his Pseudoxica epidemica, a compilation and exposé of popular superstitions. Browne's testimony in support of the reality of witchcraft may be the first documented example of expert testimony by a physician in reference to a psychiatric issue. Browne's testimony also played a role in the Salem witch trials, as Cotton Mather quoted it to allay the doubts of those who challenged the reality of witchcraft" (Norman 966). Separate title page for Tryal of Witches, dated 1682. Wing H260. Early owner notations to title page. A fine copy of this rare work.

• USD 4,200.00 > other currencies
• ordernr.: 20157

• bookseller: Bauman Rare Books (USA)