Scripture and Science
PBK.006301
Printed Book
1683
United States
English
Printed on Paper
5.9 × 3.9 × 0.4 in. (15 × 10 × 1 cm)
Not on View
From November 1680 through March 1681, the Great Comet of 1680 streaked across the night sky for all to see, eliciting widespread fascination and contributing to important scientific insights, including Isaac Newton’s development of the law of gravity. Increase Mather, a prominent Puritan minister and future president of Harvard College, preached several sermons about the comet and its religious implications. Like many in his day, Mather viewed comets as signs—often of impending judgment—from God. He soon released Kometographia, which dealt not only with the nature of comets but also presented a voluminous list of comets throughout history and the calamities that followed. This copy contains extensive annotations from a reader who drew attention to shocking events and noted the frequency of droughts in the text.
Printed in 1683 by Samuel Green for Samuel Sewall, Boston, Massachusetts. Acquired by 1760 by John Duncan.[1] Acquired by 2020 by Ted Steinbock, private collector, Louisville, Kentucky; Privately purchased in 2020 by Museum of the Bible, Washington, DC.
Notes: [1] An inscription on page 50 reads, “John Duncan 1760 aberdn.” The hand makes it clear that he is the author of the annotations throughout the text. The final word after his name may be short for Aberdeen, Scotland. Duncan is a common Scottish surname, which lends credence to this possibility. However, the book was printed in Boston, so it may refer to the Aberdeen neighborhood in Boston (or various other towns called Aberdeen in colonial America). It has not been possible to establish the identity of John Duncan with certainty. A child has practiced their handwriting in the space surrounding Duncan’s name, filling it with the letters B, I, P, W, and E. Additionally, penciled inscriptions appear on the front pastedown and front free endpaper. The front free endpaper contains the ESTC citation “W019542” (from Ted Steinbock) and “DAS 28,” while the front pastedown reads “[Jany]? 81902 WSI.”
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