Diary of Samuel Sewall 1674-1729 in 3 volumes, Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society Volume 5 - Fifth Series

Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1878. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1878. 3 volumes, complete. Brown silk binding, paper spine labels. Volume I: first edition, frontispiece portrait of Sewall, protective tissue, 532 pp. including index; Volume II: second edition, 462 pp. including index; Volume III: 572 pp. including index. Sewall was one of the judges overseeing the Salem Witch Trials. Apart from his involvement in the Salem witch trials, Sewall was somewhat liberal in his views for the time. In The Selling of Joseph (1700), for instance, he came out strongly against slavery, making him one of the earliest colonial abolitionists. The Selling of Joseph was the earliest-recorded anti-slavery tract published in the future United States. In it, Sewell argued, "Liberty is in real value next unto Life: None ought to part with it themselves, or deprive others of it, but upon the most mature Consideration." He regarded "man-stealing as an atrocious crime which would introduce among the English settlers people who would remain forever restive and alien", but also believed that "There is such a disparity in their Conditions, Colour, Hair, that they can never embody with us, and grow up into orderly Families, to the Peopling of the Land." Although holding such segregationist views, he maintained that "These Ethiopians, as black as they are; seeing they are the Sons and Daughters of the First Adam, the Brethren and Sisters of the Last ADAM [meaning Jesus Christ], and the Offspring of God; They ought to be treated with a Respect agreeable."[citation needed] His essay Talitha Cumi, first published in 1725, refers to the "right of women."[15] When the periwig became fashionable in New England, Sewall condemned the fashion vehemently, in contrast to Cotton Mather, who saw no reason why a Puritan should not wear a wig. Sewall's Journal, kept from 1673 to 1729, describes his life as a Puritan against the changing tide of colonial life, as the devoutly religious community of Massachusetts gradually adopted more secular attitudes and emerged as a liberal, cosmopolitan-minded community. All volumes very shallow chipping top of spine. Hinges sound. No writing inside. Very good condition.. Reprint. Hard Cover. Very Good. Illus. by Illustrated. 8vo.