CALEF, ROBERT

kāˈləf, 1648–1719, known primarily as author of More Wonders of the Invisible World (1700). A Boston cloth merchant, probably born in England, he bitterly attacked Cotton Mather for his part in the Salem, Mass., witchcraft trials. The book, published in London because Boston printers would not accept it, generally condemned the view of witchcraft then prevailing and had a salutary effect throughout New England. It is reprinted in S. G. Drake, comp., The Witchcraft Delusion in New England (3 vol., 1866, repr. 1970).

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Publication Information: Encyclopedia Article Title: Calef, Robert. Encyclopedia Title: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Publisher: Columbia University Press. Place of Publication: New York. Publication Year: 2004.