(EARLY AMERICAN IMPRINT) [Cotton Mather] Manuductio ad Minis

Sale 2675 - Lot 129

Price Realized: $ 2,750

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000

(EARLY AMERICAN IMPRINT.) [Cotton Mather.] Manuductio ad Ministerium. Directions for a Candidate of the Ministry. [4], xviii, [2], 151 pages. 8vo, contemporary paneled calf, worn, joints split; lacking free endpapers, minor foxing, two tears to final leaf; with half-title reading "Dr. Mather's Directions for a Candidate of the Ministry"; 1735 ownership signature of Ebenezer Gay on title page. Boston: Thomas Hancock, 1726

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First edition, first state. The leading Puritan intellectual of his day offers detailed advice to prospective ministers, covering health, studies, theology, and more. He concludes with "A Catalogue of Books, for a Young Student's Library." "Probably the most vigorous and entertaining book that he ever wrote. . . . Written heartily, with real enthusiasm for the subject, and with greater directness and simplicity of style than the author has shown in any other work. . . . An index to the state of literature, of science, of criticism, of general culture, in New England at that time; and, in many places, it is positively sprightly and amusing"--Moses Tyler, History of American Literature, pages II:84-85.

The early owner of this volume was the Rev. Ebenezer Gay (1696-1787) of Hingham, MA, known as "the Father of American Unitarianism." Church 901; Evans 2772; Sabin 46400. One other copy traced at auction since 1997.