A religious tract on the Great Comet of 1811, printed in Boston

[Caption title:] Series of Evangelical Tracts, no. 30. The comet explained and improved in a conversation between a minister and one of his parishioners. Boston, Lincoln and Edmands, 1812.

Ca. 19,4 x 12,2 cm. 12 pp. With a small woodcut showing the Great Comet of 1811. Side-stitched self wrappers. Untrimmed. Browned and foxed, the first two leaves with marginal defects, owner’s inscription of “Eliza Temple”.

A very rare religious tract prompted by the Great Comet of 1811, which was visible to the naked eye for nine months, a record that would not be broken until the Hale–Bopp comet of 1997.

Ref. Shaw, American bibliography 25126 & 26717; for the comet: Kronk, Cometography, volume 2, p. 19 ff.