Bibliography

This list does not include hundreds of works alluded to, and often named in the text, but not specifically cited. It is virtually confined to those works for which specific credit appears in the footnotes.PFF3 757.1

1. Check List on Early American Prophetic Works.—The greatest singlehelp to checking the works published in America prior to the nineteenth centuryis Charles Evans’ twelve-volume American Bibliography. (Chicago: The Author, 1903-1934.) Listing 35,854 titles between 1639 and 1799, this giantbibliographical monument of exacting scholarship provides a faithful reflectorof colonial times, as well as the early national period following.PFF3 757.2

Giving full name of author and full title of each book, then place, publisher, date, size, and edition, Evans” work provides an invaluable tabulation of most volumes in the field of our special quest. Chronological in arrangement, and with topical, title, author, and publisher indexes and cross references, it is unique for tracing literature in special categories. Since it is based on the holdings of all the leading American libraries and historical societies, few titles escaped inclusion.PFF3 757.3

The earliest American titles were, of course, published in the Old World. The early American presses, when they began to operate, were limited in number and capacity, and many works by colonial authors still continued to be printed in old England. There were but 648 American imprints in the seventeenth century. In fact, there were but 3,244 printed titles between 1639 and 1729. (Lawrence C. Wroth, “Evans” American Bibliography a Matrix of Histories,” in Charles Evans, American Bibliography, 1639-1729, 4th preliminary leaf, recto Boston: C. E. Goodspeed and Co., 1943. A special edition of Evans” first volume in the Rare Book Collection of the Library of Congress.) The proportionate number, therefore, that bear upon prophecy is truly remarkable. And as ministers led in much of the literature of the day, their books, and printed convention, election, fast day, thanksgiving, and regular sermons, provide a faithful portrayal of the times. Their interpretations of prophecy are the more conspicuous because of the authoritative place occupied by the preacher. The American Antiquarian Society of Worcester, Mass., has the largest single collection of all Americana prior to 1820, comprising some 70 per cent of all titles.PFF3 757.4

It may pertinently be added that the history of the colonial American town was in large measure that of its churches; and in turn, the history of the churches was essentially that of their clergy. Ministers were usually the leaders not only in theology, but in education, law, medicine, and often in politics. Their training may be judged by the fact that nine tenths of the colonial clergy of Massachusetts were college graduates, and the others were privately tutored by college-trained men. It is also interesting to note that in New England three quarters of the ministry were Congregational. So says Dr. Weis, whose two volumes on colonial clergy are mines of biographical information for this period. (Frederick L. Weis, The Colonial Clergy and the Colonial Churches of New England [1620-1776]. Lancaster, Mass.: [Society of the Descendants of the Colonial Clergy], 1936. The Colonial Churches and the Colonial Clergy of the Middle and Southern Colonies. Lancaster, Mass.: [Society of the De scendants of the Colonial Clergy], 1938.)PFF3 757.5

2. Check Lists on Old World Prophetic Works.—Copies of the majorityof the prophetic works of the Old World Advent Awakening are to be found in theBritish Museum and the university libraries of Oxford, Cambridge, Glasgowand Dublin. Some, however, were found only in the Staatsbibliothek of Berlin the Bibliotheque Nationale of Paris, the Bibliotheque Publique et Universitaire of Geneva, and the great libraries of America. The most complete and helpful single check list of Old World expositions was compiled in 1835 by Joshua W. Brooks, editor of The Investigator, in his Dictionary of Writers on the Prophecies, With the Titles and Occasional Descriptions of Their Works. (London: Simpkin, Marshall and Co., 1835.) The next best is doubtless the briefer list of Edward Bickersteth in A Practical Guide to the Prophecies, pp. 364-391. (London: R. B. Seeley and W. Burnside, 1836.)PFF3 757.6

3. Page Citations Listed in Bibliography.—Because of the extraordinarily large number of sources and authorities cited in the Bibliography, book and periodical titles, with accompanying references, are not repeated in the Index. The page references for the works cited therefore appear only in the Bibliography. As sources predominate in this list, the relatively few authorities have not been segregated—the publishing dates serving to distinguish them. Periodicals and manuscripts are listed separately.PFF3 758.1