The Celestial Rail-Road, in wrappers - photo 1

The Celestial Rail-Road, in wrappers

Starting price
$ 10 000
Auction dateClassic
15.06.2023 10:00UTC -04:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
USA, New York
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ID 967658
Lot 79 | The Celestial Rail-Road, in wrappers
The Celestial Rail-Road, in wrappers

Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1843

HAWTHORNE, Nathaniel (1804-1864). The Celestial Rail-Road. Boston: Published by James F. Fish, 1843.



"Not a great while ago, passing through the gate of dreams, I visited that region of the earth in which lies the famous city of Destruction..." — "The Celestial Rail-Road"



First separate edition, first printing, a piracy, of Hawthorne's rare satirical sketch reworking the plot of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. "The Celestial Rail-Road" first appeared in May 1843 in the Democratic Review. The present piracy—one of two, with the other one bearing the imprint of Wilder & Co.— was published around October the same year and greatly upset Hawthorne. The widely-read tale (it was reprinted frequently in newspapers) would finally be collected in book form three years later in Mosses from an Old Manse (1846). Rare: RBH most recently records the piracy of "The Celestial Rail-Road" as selling in these rooms in John Fleming's collection in 1988. BAL 7596 (no priority between Fish and Wilder imprints); Clark A13.1b (priority given to Wilder imprint).



32mo (127 x 80mm). (Resewn.) Original printed wrappers (lightly worn, separated from gathering); modern chemise and crimson morocco pull-off case.

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