Books

Boston: Ticknor, Reed and Fields, 1850. First Edition, First Issue, with ads dated March 1. 1850, no preface and all first edition points noted by Clark, including 'reduplicate for 'repudiate' on page 21. Title-page printed in red and black. 8vo, a rare survival in the publisher’s original Ticknor Style A brown textured cloth, the covers decorated in blind, the spine printed in gilt. Now protected and housed in a folding box of brown cloth covered boards lined with marbled paper, the back with brown leather label lettered and ruled in gilt. iv, 322 pp. A beautifully preserved copy, and a remarkably fine example of what is arguably the author's most important and most revered work, as well as a landmark of American literature. The text very clean and fresh, completely free of foxing or stains, looking to be near as pristine the binding sturdy and strong, the hinges fine and firm, the cloth rich and unfaded with bright gilt, trivial rubbing to the tips and edges. FIRST…

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.