The Scarlet Letter
author
Nathaniel Hawthorne
(Salem, Massachusetts, 1804 - 1864, Plymouth, New Hampshire)
publisher
Ticknor, Reed, and Fields
(active Boston, 1845 - 1854)
Date1850
Place MadeMassachusetts, United States, North America
MediumInk on paper with cloth covered binding
Dimensions19 x 19.5 x 2.8 cm (7 1/2 x 7 11/16 x 1 1/8 in.)
ClassificationsBooks
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberU3n42
eMuseum ID721459
EmbARK ObjectID18250
Previous NumberU3nOK.02
TMS Source ID6265
Last Updated8/15/24
Descriptioniv, 322 p. ; 18 cm.Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryThis first edition of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter (1850) contains a dedication from the author to his publisher James T. Fields as well as a letter from Hawthorne to Fields. Gardner collected a number of works by Hawthorne and even placed a lock of his hair alongside this book in a case in the Blue Room.
BibliographyNotesIsabella Stewart Gardner. A Choice of Books from the Library of Isabella Stewart Gardner, Fenway Court (Boston, 1906), p. 33. ("First edition")
MarksNotesDedicated in ink (center of front endpaper): Nath' Hawthorne to James T. Fields
Enclosed: Letter from Nathaniel Hawthorne to James T. Fields, Liverpool, 13 October 1853 (pasted onto front paste-down endpaper, see U3n42.x)
Enclosed: Letter from Nathaniel Hawthorne to James T. Fields, Liverpool, 13 October 1853 (pasted onto front paste-down endpaper, see U3n42.x)
ProvenanceNotesPresented by Nathaniel Hawthorne to publisher, editor, writer, and lecturer James Thomas Fields (1817-1881).
Gift from Annie Adams Fields (1834-1915), literary hostess, author, and social reformer, to Isabella Stewart Gardner sometime between 1881 and 1915.
Gift from Annie Adams Fields (1834-1915), literary hostess, author, and social reformer, to Isabella Stewart Gardner sometime between 1881 and 1915.
Object/Enclosure
