Lot 222
[Glanvil, Joseph] Saducismus triumphatus; or, Full and plain evidence concerning witches and apparitions. The Third Edition with Additions. London. Printed for A.L. and Sold, by Roger Tuckyr, at the Golden Led, the corner of Salisbury-street, in the Strand. MDCC. 8vo, worn leather bindings; small modern black title label on spine. Glanvil (1633-1680) was an English writer, philosopher and clergyman-- "late Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty, and Fellow of the Royal Society. " With a letter of Dr. Henry More on the same subject and "Two Authentick, but wonderful Stories of certain Swedish witches. Done into English by A. Horneck, D.D." Engraved frontispiece depicting Saul and Samuel and additional engraved title-page showing supernatural events. With a last leaf containing an illustration of two stones voided by a child in Sweden with an advertisement on the verso. Several loose pages and a couple of marginal tears.
This book belonged to Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895), the English natural scientist and author who coined the term "agnosticism" and who became widely known as "Darwin's Bulldog" because of his fierce and uncompromising defense of Darwin's theory of evolution and natural selection. Huxley's famous 1860 debate with Samuel Wilberforce was a key moment in the wider acceptance of evolution. Huxley signed his name ("T. Huxley"), his address in Yorkshire, and the year (1899), and how much he paid for the book. Inside cover has the bookplate of Edward Hailstone with his family's coat of arms.
Glanvil's book, which affirmed the existence of witches with malign supernatural powers of magic, strongly influenced Cotton Mather in his Discourse on Witchcraft (1689) and the Salem witch trials held in Salem, Mass. in 1692-3, as well as Mather's Wonders of the Invisible World (1693).
Estimated Value $800 - 1,000.
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| Realized $1,440 |
