A Complete Body of Divinity in Two Hundred and Fifty Expository Lectures on the Assembly’s Shorter Catechism

Folio, contemporary calf, lacks frontispiece as usual, [1], iv, 3, [3], 914, [1] pp. Binding is very worn, back cover detached, and front cover almost detached, front endpaper almost detached, some serious dampstaining and sticking, affecting the last 20 leaves only, last leaf including Willard’s works is defective, some foxing, a few ink, stains bookplate on front pastedown, some notes on preliminary blanks, and early owner’s inscriptions on title page and elsewhere. Samuel Willard (1640-1707) was a puritan clergyman born in Concord Massachusetts. In 1663 he became pastor of what was considered at that time the frontier community of Groton, Massachusetts. In 1671 he became involved with the demonic possession of Elizabeth Knapp, and recorded his observations on her care and treatment, which were not published until 1868. In 1675 he and his family became refugees of the King Philip’s War. Over the course of his life, Willard published a number of articles, and was regarded as one of the leading intellectuals of American Puritanism. The inscriptions in this book include William Johnson (1726), Anna MoodY to her son Cutting Moody (1828), and Elizabeth Kelly (1837). The early owners appear to have been the residents of Newbury, Massachusetts, and Rev. William Johnson (1706-1772) graduated form Harvard in 1727. According to Evans, this is the first folio volume published in the United States other than works on laws, and the largest work up to that time printed in this country.