An important primary document by one condemned as a "worthless rake"

Thomas Morton; Charles Francis Adams [intro.]

The New English Canaan of Thomas Morton [Limited Edition]

Boston: Prince Society, 1883. Very Good. Item #14828

Boston: Prince Society, 1883. First Thus, Limited to 250 copies. Small quarto; contemporary half black morocco over marbled boards, gilt spine in six compartments, top edge gilt, marbled endpapers; [4],vi,381pp.; woodcut head- and tail-pieces throughout. Minor wear to extremities, spine leather gently scuffed and sunned, attractive 20th-century ownership ex libris to front pastedown, else a Very Good, attractive copy overall.

One of the Society's more elusive publications, Thomas Morton's New English Canaan was first published in Amsterdam (the work was too seditious for its author's native England) in 1637 at the tail-end of an extremely busy career. Morton (fl. 1622-1647) was kicked out of the colonies by the Puritans no fewer than three times and his Maypole, erected at his home at Merry Mount near Quincey, Massachusetts, was twice chopped down. He was, according to the author of his entry in the Dictionary of American Biography, "a worthless rake, in spite of efforts which have been made to rehabilitate his character as a persecuted churchman".

Be that as it may, the New English Canaan remains a valuable early account of New England geography, climate, and fauna, as well as the customs, language, and religious rituals of the indigenous population, towards whom Morton felt much greater affection and regard than the religious zealots who kept going after his Maypole. Upon publication the work was seized and four hundred copies are believed to have been destroyed, while its author was once again arrested immediately upon returning to Boston in 1640.

References:

Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. XIII, p. 267.

World History Encyclopedia Online for further information.

Price: $750.00