FRONT PAGE ARTICLE ON THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS.


The Athenian Mercury, vol 9, no 6. London: John Dunton at the Raven in the Poultrey, December 31, 1692. Folio (310 x 190 mm). 2 pp. Disbound. Page toned, dampstaining at lower right corner.ONE OF ONLY TWO KNOWN CONTEMPORARY NEWSPAPER ACCOUNTS OF THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS. Page 1, Column 1 opens: "Quest 1. In the remarkable TRYALS of WITCHES published this Week by Mr. Mather, 'tis said that Nineteen Witches have been lately Executed at New-England, and that there is an Hundred Witches still in Prison, Committed upon the Accusation of fifty Witches, some of Boston, but most about Salem and the Towns adjacent : this Relation is very strange and surprizing, I therefore desire your Sentiments of it? / Answ: You'll find an Answer to this Question in p. 48. of the said Book of Tryals, in these words: / The Reverend and Worth author having at the Direction of his Excellency the Governour so far obliged the Publick as to give some Account of the Sufferings brought upon the Countrey by Witchcraft, and of the Tryals which have passed upon several Executed for the same : Upon perusal thereof we find the Matter of Fact and Evidence truly reported, and a Prospect given of the Methods of Conviction used in the Proceedings of the Court of Salem. / Boston, Octob. 11. 1692. William Stoughton / Samuel Sewall." There were no newspapers published in America at this time, leaving the English papers as the sole source of reportage.