RECORDS OF THE SALEM WITCH-HUNT
This book represents the first comprehensive record of all legal documents per-
taining to the Salem witch trials, in chronological order. Numerous newly dis-
covered manuscripts, as well as records published in earlier books that were over-
looked in other editions, offer a narrative account of the much-written-about
episode in 1692–93. The book may be used as a reference book or read as an
unfolding narrative. All legal records are newly transcribed, and errors in previous
editions have been corrected. Included in this edition is a historical introduction,
a legal introduction, and a linguistic introduction. Manuscripts are accompanied
by notes that, in many cases, identify the person who wrote the record. This has
never been attempted, and much is revealed by seeing who wrote what, when.
Bernard Rosenthal has written widely on American literature and culture. His
monographs include City of Nature and Salem Story, and he has also edited many
published volumes, including The Oregon Trail by Francis Parkman, Jr. He is also
the author of numerous articles and reviews. Rosenthal has received at different
times four grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as
a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission in
support of this book. One of his NEH grants was in collaboration with Benjamin
Ray, partially in support of this book; another was to support this book’s comple-
tion. Rosenthal was also a Fulbright lecturer in 1996–97 at Tampere University
in Finland. He is Professor Emeritus at the State University of New York at
Binghamton.
© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org
Cambridge University Press
978-0-521-66166-9 - Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt
Edited by Bernard Rosenthal
Frontmatter
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