Books

2 volumes bound into one. First Edition of each book, First Printing with "R. Craighead s Power Press" and "T. B. Smith imprints on the verso of both title-pages, and all first issue points as called for by Clark. 8vo, very handsomely bound in three-quarter scarlet morocco over red cloth-covered boards, gilt trimmed on the cornerpieces and backstrip, the spine with handsome ornately gilt decorated compartments between gilt stippled raised bands, gilt lettering in two gilt framed compartments and additional lettering at the tail, t.e.g., PUBLISHER'S RARE ORIGINAL DARK GREEN CLOTH preserved and bound in the rear rear of the volume. [i-vi], [1]-207; [i-vi], [1]-211 pp. A very clean and handsome copy, beautifully preserved, the text-block unusually clean and the binding bright, tight and strong. FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING OF THIS EARLY AND QUITE SCARCE HAWTHORNE TITLE RARELY ENCOUNTERED IN FULL FIRST STATE FORMAT. Hawthorne spent three years in the Old Manse in Concord. The Old Manse is a historic manse famous for its American literary associations. It is now owned and operated as a nonprofit museum by the Trustees of Reservations. In 1842, the American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne rented the Old Manse for $100 a year. He moved in with his wife, transcendentalist Sophia Peabody. Prior to their arrival at the Manse, Henry David Thoreau created a vegetable garden for the couple. The Hawthornes lived in the house for three years. Previously the manse had been home to Ralph Waldo Emerson. MOSSES FROM AN OLD MANSE is the best and most important of the three literary collections Hawthorne published during his lifetime. Many of the tales are allegories and, as in much of Hawthorne's best works, focus on the negative side of human nature. Herman Melville, a close friend of Hawthorne, noted this aspect in his review of it-- "This black conceit pervades him through and through. You may be witched by his sunlight, transported by the bright gildings in the skies he builds over you; but there is the blackness of darkness beyond; and even his bright gildings but fringe and play upon the edges of thunder-clouds.".

A collection of short stories published in 1846, it reflects Hawthorne's dark romanticism and explores human nature and morality.