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THE ORTHODOX EVANGELIST.
(London: Printed by John Macock for Henry Cripps and Lodowick Lloyd, 1654). 188 x 145 mm. (7 1/2 x 5 3/4"). 7 p.l. (of 8, lacking longitudinal label-leaf), 231, 248-272, 281-355, [1] pp., [8] leaves (including final blank). Irregular pagination but text complete. FIRST EDITION.
Plain and inexpensive contemporary sheepskin, smooth spine. In a custom-made box. Front pastedown with early ink trials, front endpapers with bibliographical annotations, rear pastedown with early ink inscription "No. 29." Sabin 55887; Wing 1320; ESTC R206951. Three-inch crack near tail edge of front joint (rear joint flaked), spine with several small losses (including a shallow chip across the top), boards a bit marked and stained, and corners with obvious wear, but the unsophisticated binding still quite solid. Text a bit browned, marginal thumbing here and there, other small internal defects. Not without condition issues, but entirely original and pleasing in that respect.
This is a fully contemporary copy of an uncommon and important early expression of American Puritan ideas. Born in Hertfordshire, our author, minister John Norton (1606-63), was educated at Cambridge and ordained in the Church of England, but then fell under the sway of Puritanism, and sailed to Massachusetts in 1635, shortly after the Massachusetts Bay Colony had been founded. He became a sought-after preacher there, where he played an important role in codifying American Puritanism through his participation in the Massachusetts Synod of 1637 and the writing of the Cambridge Platform in 1648. In 1656, Norton became minister of the First Church of Boston, succeeding famous divine John Cotton, who provided the dedicatory letter in the present work. In "The Orthodox Evangelist," Norton provides a thorough explanation of Puritan theology and practice, which in ANB's words, is "a necessary and useful tool in the process of reconstructing the state of Puritan beliefs in early Massachusetts." "The Orthodox Evangelist" appears in the marketplace infrequently: besides ours, we were able to locate just three records of its sale at auction since 1990. (ST21063)
Price: $3,250.00