Books

Hardcover. Gray boards with blindstamped decorations on boards, gold lettering and decorations on the spine. Binding faded and edgeworn and just the slightest bit shelf-cocked. 252 + 248 + publisher's advertisements. Front free endpaper missing, as well as any blank pages at the front or half-title page. Frontispiece illustration by John Gilbert is missing. Rubberstamp on title page, "Peter F, O'Flaherty, Solicitor, Enniscortby" (founder of the law-firm now called Kirwin & Kirwin, still practicing law even now, in Wexford, Ireland." This is a pirated edition (although at the time international copyright laws were muddy and publishers, ever respected ones like Routledge, took full advantage of that to profit off successful writers on the other side of the ocean). Bohn also rushed an unsanctioned edition of these titles to press - both editions hit the bookshops at the same time. The Scarlet Letter was published in the US in 1850. Seven Gables was published in 1851 (indicating that the British publishers really had to hustle to get this edition made). It's hard to overstate the importance of Hawthorne in the emergence and acceptance of truly American Literature. His works were born and bred on US soil, but were received internationally as literature, not merely provincial scribbling. These are his two most important long works. Please email with questions or to request photos.

The Scarlet Letter, published in 1850, is considered one of Nathaniel Hawthorne's most famous works. It is a historical romance set in the puritanical Massachusetts Bay Colony during the mid-17th century.