The Scarlet Letter, the Chamberlain-Armstrong-Adams copy with autograph letter - photo 1
The Scarlet Letter, the Chamberlain-Armstrong-Adams copy with autograph letter - photo 2
The Scarlet Letter, the Chamberlain-Armstrong-Adams copy with autograph letter - photo 3
The Scarlet Letter, the Chamberlain-Armstrong-Adams copy with autograph letter - photo 4

The Scarlet Letter, the Chamberlain-Armstrong-Adams copy with autograph letter

Lot 92
15.06.2023 10:00UTC -05:00
Classic
Sold
$ 23 940
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
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ID 967590
Lot 92 | The Scarlet Letter, the Chamberlain-Armstrong-Adams copy with autograph letter
Estimate value
$ 12 000 – 18 000
The Scarlet Letter, the Chamberlain-Armstrong-Adams copy with autograph letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1850

HAWTHORNE, Nathaniel (1804-1864). The Scarlet Letter, a Romance. Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, 1850. [With:] Autograph letter signed ("Nath. Hawthorne") to Mr Edward Welles, 18 November 1850, Lenox [Mass.].



The Chamberlain-Armstrong-Adams copy of the first edition, together with a contemporary autograph letter from the author written to a young admirer. Originally in the collection of Jacob Chester Chamberlain, the noted early bibliographer of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, and Nathaniel Hawthorne himself. With a lovely contemporary letter—dated in the year of The Scarlet Letter's publication—attesting to Hawthorne's reputation as an author. He kindly responds to a "dear young friend," Mr Edward Welles of Ann Arbor, who has requested his autograph. He responds in part by saying, "It gives me pleasure to oblige you, so far as this little note can do it..." The author also comments on Welles's handwriting: "but for your express declaration that you are a boy, I might have imagined another origin for your very pretty and graceful note. The beauty and delicate freedom of the chirography would rather have seemed to indicate the fair hand of a young lady." BAL 7600; Clark A16.1; Grolier American 59.



Octavo (180 x 110mm). Title-page printed in red and black (without adverts). Original cloth (upper hinge cracked and front joint splitting, spine ends chipped, corners showing). Letter: loosely inserted, 172 x 122mm, 1 p. (minor soiling, small shadows at corners from previous mounting); modern chemise and slipcase. Provenance: Jacob Chester Chamberlain, 1860-1905, bibliographer of Longfellow, Lowell, and Hawthorne (bookplate) – William Armstrong (bookplate) – Helen Armstrong (bookplate) – George Matthew Adams, 1878-1962 (bookplate, with matching monogram-stamped slipcase; his sale, Parke-Bernet, 1 October 1963, lot 118) – Christie's New York, 22 June 2010, lot 211.

Artist:Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804 - 1864)
Auction house category:Printed books
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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15.06.2023
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