Books

Full Description: HAWTHORNE, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter, a Romance. Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, 1850. Second printing, printed the same year as the first. Octavo (7 1/4 x 4 inches; 180 x 115 mm). [4, publisher's catalog], [4, blank], vi, 307, [4, blank] pp. With publisher's catalog dated "November 1850" inserted between endpapers, and "Preface to Second Edition." Original brown vertically-ribbed cloth. Covers blocked in blind with decorative central device. Spine ruled in blind and lettered in gilt. Original pale yellow endpapers. Some light toning and a few instances of spotting. Pages occasionally roughly opened. Some minor chipping to the cloth at head and tail of spine. Previous owner's occasional minor pencil corrections. Sill a very good copy of this American classic. "This somber romance of conscience and the tragic consequences of concealed guilt is set in Puritan Boston during the mid-17th century. An introductory essay describes the author's experiences as on official of the Salem Custom House, and his supposed discovery of a scarlet cloth letter and documents relating to the story of Hester." (The Oxford Companion to American Literature, 749). BAL 7601. Clark A16.1. HBS 69216. $1,750.

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.