9 h 36 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 9 h 36 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What counts as proof when a frightened colony believes its enemy is invisible?
In The Wonders of the Invisible World, Boston minister Cotton Mather defends the court behind the Massachusetts witch trials of 1692. People have been hanged, and doubts are growing. His sermon on the Devil and New England and his accounts of particular trials reveal how he understands the accusations in Salem Village and nearby towns.
The trial reports bring you to the cases of Bridget Bishop, Susanna Martin, Elizabeth How and Martha Carrier. At the center stands spectral evidence, a disputed basis for accusations. Increase Mather’s contribution, Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits, urges caution and mercy. Together, these writings expose the tension between religious belief, judgment and the need for proof.
What you’ll discover
- Fear and the unseen Explore the beliefs that make an invisible threat seem urgent to educated Puritans.
- The court’s own story Read trial accounts shaped by Cotton Mather’s effort to defend the court’s decisions.
- The problem of proof Confront spectral evidence and the troubling question of what an accusation can establish.
- A call for mercy Encounter Increase Mather’s more cautious tone in Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits.
- An argument, not neutrality Hear a major voice of the Salem crisis within his own religious frame of mind.
Who will love it
This book suits readers of American history and lovers of primary sources, and anyone curious about Salem who wants to hear the ministers, judges and witnesses speak for themselves about belief, evidence and fear.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A defense, a request, and a colony under attack
- Peace, and the old rules for finding witches
- The sermon on the Devil's short time
- An appeal in eight steps
- Five trials at Salem, told as history
- Curiosities, Sweden, and Salem Village
- Increase Mather's Cases of Conscience
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Le meraviglie del Mondo invisibile
by Cotton Mather; Increase Mather · 1693
Two Boston ministers defend and question the Salem witch trials while the court is still condemning people.
Challenging5–10 hours to readItaliano
Learn a language with challenging classicsSpagnoloFranceseTedescoItalianoGiapponesePortogheseIngleseHow we measure levels
Excellent
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In short
Picture a minister writing a book about witches while the court that condemns them is still in session. That is how The Wonders of the Invisible World comes into being in 1692.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A defense, a request, and a colony under attack
Cotton Mather opens by explaining why he dares to publish. He hopes to guide New England in the lessons God means it to draw from these events, and to answer rumors about his own views. He expects hostility. He calls himself a peacemaker who has been treated as a partisan.
Then comes the letter from William Stoughton, chief of the court of Oyer and Terminer. He praises the work for its zeal against Satan and its restraint, and asks Mather to print it at once. Because Stoughton sits over the trials, his approval ties the book to the court from its first pages.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1693
- Language
- Italiano
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Mather, Cotton, and Increase Mather. The Wonders of the Invisible World. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-wonders-of-the-invisible-world.
Mather, C., & Mather, I. (2026). The wonders of the invisible world. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-wonders-of-the-invisible-world (Original work published 1693)
Mather, Cotton, and Increase Mather. The Wonders of the Invisible World. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-wonders-of-the-invisible-world.
@book{mather2026wonders,
author = {Mather, Cotton and Mather, Increase},
title = {The Wonders of the Invisible World},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-wonders-of-the-invisible-world},
note = {First published 1693}
}
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What is The Wonders of the Invisible World about?
It gathers Cotton Mather's sermon on the Devil, his summaries of five Salem trials in 1692, tales from other lands, and a sermon on temptation. It ends with Increase Mather's treatise on evidence in witchcraft cases.
Who wrote The Wonders of the Invisible World?
Cotton Mather wrote most of it, at the request of the colony's leaders in 1692. It also includes an account by Deodat Lawson and a separate treatise by Cotton's father, Increase Mather, president of Harvard College.
What is spectral evidence?
It means testimony that the shape or specter of an accused person appeared to the afflicted and tormented them. Ministers in the book warn that the Devil might use an innocent person's shape, so it should not alone convict.
The author
Cotton Mather
1663–1728 · American Puritan minister and writer
Cotton Mather was a Puritan minister and writer born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1663. He lived and worked in Boston and died there in 1728. He wrote on religion, history, and science. His publications included The Wonders of the Invisible World in 1693 and Magnalia Christi Americana in 1702.
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