Author: Priest, Josiah (1788–1851)
A View of the Expected Christian Millennium: Which is Promised in the Holy Scriptures, and is Believed to be Nigh Its Commencement, and Must Transpire Before the Conflagration of the Heavens and the Earth.
This work is a very popular artifact of the "Burned-over District" (The term "Burned-over District" refers to the central and western regions of New York State during the early 19th century. Coined by the famous revivalist preacher Charles Grandison Finney, the name relies on a brilliant fire metaphor: the area had been swept by so many massive, high-energy Christian religious revivals that it was completely "burned over". In Finney's view, there was no "combustible fuel" left to catch fire) religious revivalism that swept upstate New York during the Second Great Awakening. Published as a stated seventh edition, this text reflects the intense eschatological anxiety of the early American frontier, compiling popular millenarian theories and biblical chronologies regarding the approaching thousand-year reign of Christ. The book provides a striking, unvarnished look at early 19th-century American folklore, interweaving apocalyptic prophecy with speculative histories of the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel. For the book archaeologist, it stands as an exceptional example of period book production, featuring high-acid American rag paper, a traditional trade sheepskin binding, A large portion of the frequently missing folding chronological frontispiece chart, and a highly prized regional subscriber index that preserves the names of the frontier citizens who originally funded its printing.
Illustrations & Plates: Embellished with one large folding woodcut frontispiece chart titled “A Chart of the Dispensations from Abraham to the End of Time”, and one full-page text plate illustrating early geometric and astronomical solar system configurations.
We provide detailed photographs to allow you to assess the book's condition and aesthetic appeal.
