1806 WEEKLY VISITANT. Slavery, Hauntings, Emigrants, Pirate Massacre, Original Poems, &c.

A very rare full [and only] year of The Weekly Visitant. What made it a bit of a flop, i.e. its emphasis on niche subjects, original contributions by local and regional authors, and unwillingness to get down into the slop of national controversy, renders it a fascinating piece of history today. Articles on local hauntings, locally composed patriotic and literary pieces, advice on fashion and health, macabre accounts of pirate barbarity against American coffee traders in Yemen [the ship departed from Salem], etc., 

Contents include: Prospectus of the Weekly Visitant; On American Literature [America has not produced one poet]; followed by the poem "O Reason! Faithful guide to peace," apparently not reproduced elsewhere; Seasons Hints to the Ladies for Preserving Health and Prolonging Beauty; The Weather Morally Considered; The Musqueto [Original]; The Zegres. An Interesting Spanish Novel; On Astrology; The Slave Saydan to his Generous Master [from Zegres]; A very early printing of The African Slave [To the Tune of Ellen O'Moore]; On the Fair Sex having No Souls; Elegy on the Death of General George Washington by Joseph Story; An Elegy by John Trumbull Esq; The Lay Preacher; An Apparition [ Ghost ]; On the Influence of Christianity on Women; Conjugal Fidelity; How to Prevent Dwelling-Houses from Being Haunted; Manners and Diversions of a Syrian Village; E Vaciis Lecti. Visionary Enjoyment; Webster's Dictionary; The Emigrant's Grave; Card Playing; Socrates and His Attendant Spirit; An Enquiry into the Consistency of Oaths with Reason and Christianity; Attack and Massacre of all aboard the ship Essex of Salem [attacked by pirates while off the coast of Yemen, buying coffee]; The Sailor's Marriage; Eulogy of General Henry Knox; Optical Phenomena; The Poet's Visions; A Vision of Female Excellence; Something Spiritual; On Quack Medicine; etc. 

No examples on the market or that we trace at auction.

The Weekly Visitant: Moral, Poetical, Humorous, &c. for the Year 1806. Salem. Printed and Published by Haven Pool. 1806. 414pp. 

A reading copy only, bound in half leather, nearly disbound, with handled pages, and toned throughout. p.149 lacking lower half; ends at page 414, lacking apparenlty 1 leaf, i.e. 2pp.