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The Scarlet Letter A Romance
by HAWTHORNE, Nathaniel
- Used
- near fine
- first
- Condition
- Near Fine/Case Near Fine
- Seller
-
Seattle, Washington, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
Boston: Ticknor, Reed and Fields, 1850. First edition. Original cloth housed in a custom half-morocco box. Near Fine/Case Near Fine. First edition with all the points called for. 8vo. Pp. [i-iii], 2-54, [55], 56-322, [323-324]. Original blind-stamped ribbed brown cloth, gilt lettering on spine. Early ownership name (Jon. A. French) in pencil on a front fly. Red morocco bookplate of noted financier, bibliophile and art collector Donald Stralem on the front pastedown, with corresponding offsetting bleeding through the two leaves of publisher ads. Minor expert restoration to spine ends and hinges. Cloth unusually fine; gilt quite bright. In a brown half morocco case, Fine but for loss of silk pull. The first edition of 2,500 copes published 16 March 1850 sold out in ten days: Hawthorne's fame was assured and, significantly, American literature was established as an art form distinct from the shackles of the English tradition. Walt Whitman, referencing Hawthorne's 1846 collection Mosses From an Old Manse, had complained, "shall real American genius shiver with neglect while the public runs after this foreign trash?" (quoted from Young America: Flowering of Democracy in New York City by Edward Widmer (Oxford, 1999). Hawthorne's answer was to produce the sublime work at-hand, literature's first symbolic novel.
An exemplary copy that is certainly the finest we've seen. CLARK, A16; BAL, 7600.
Synopsis
The Scarlet Letter: A Romance (1850) is considered the American author Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'masterwork.' A work of historical fiction set in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during the Puritan settlement of 1642-1949 itells the story of Hester Prynne, who after having a child as a result of an extra-marital affair attempts to live a life of repentance and dignity although she is marked by having to wear a Scarlett A on her person. Throughout the novel, Hawthorne explores themes of legalism, sin, and guilt. The Scarlett Letter was one of the first mass-produced novels in the United States, prior printing of books generally done by hand. The 2,500 copies first printed sold out in days, and the mass-production of books opened up conversation about books and authors to a wider-audience on a national level. The first edition of The Scarlet Letter sold out in ten days and “made Hawthorne’s fame, changed his fortune and gave to our literature its first symbolic novel a year before the appearance of Melville’s Moby-Dick” (Bradley). Although an instant best-seller, the books sales over fourteen years only brought the author $1500.
Read More: Identifying first editions of The Scarlet Letter A Romance
Reviews
On Oct 4 2010, Erhanilhan said:
An absolute criticism of Puritan society. Hawthorne portrays the hypocritic sides of the society by pointing its discrepancies and ill-interpreted biblical sides deeds. He also shows that the society was not working in the name of god as stated; instead worked for a group of people (especially powerful) that keep the lines in hand.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Long Brothers Fine and Rare Books, ABAA
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 7564
- Title
- The Scarlet Letter A Romance
- Author
- HAWTHORNE, Nathaniel
- Format/Binding
- Original cloth housed in a custom half-morocco box
- Book Condition
- Used - Near Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Case Near Fine
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First edition
- Publisher
- Ticknor, Reed and Fields
- Place of Publication
- Boston
- Date Published
- 1850
Terms of Sale
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About the Seller
Long Brothers Fine and Rare Books, ABAA
Biblio member since 2010
Seattle, Washington
About Long Brothers Fine and Rare Books, ABAA
Long Brothers Fine and Rare Books was established in 1996 as a natural progression of proprietor Jeffrey Long's historical and bibliophilic interests. We are located in West Seattle and can be visited by appointment only.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
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- Bookplate
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- Leaves
- Very generally, "leaves" refers to the pages of a book, as in the common phrase, "loose-leaf pages." A leaf is a single sheet...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Cloth
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- BAL
- Bibliography of American Literature (commonly abbreviated as BAL in descriptions) is the quintessential reference work for any...
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