Books

Wiley and Putnam, 1846. First Edition, First Issue. Hardcover. Very Good. 8vo (5 1/8 x 7 3/16 inches).Pp. vi, 207, [blank], Bound in publisher's original blind-stamped cloth, gilt lettering on spine. Original pink patterned endpapers. A few leaves roughly opened along top edge (approximately 1/8 inch only); scattered light foxing, spine and edges mildly sunned. A superb copy. First edition, first issue, with Craighead and Smith imprint on both title versos and blank p. 212 in vol. two. Of copies in cloth, BAL reveals that page (212) "in the earliest printings is wholly blank; in known reprints this page is used as the title page, dated 1846, for a publisher's catalog.The Old Manse refers to the Concord house occupied Hawthorne and his wife, Sophia Peabody Hawthorne, and is the title of his essay introducing the subsequent 25 short stories.Upon publication, Hawthorne sent copies to several critic-acquaintances, including Margaret Fuller, Herman Melville and Edgar Allan Poe. While…

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

First editions are typically bound in brown cloth with gold stamping on the spine.