Twice-Told Tales, the Prescott copy, inscribed - photo 1
Twice-Told Tales, the Prescott copy, inscribed - photo 2
Twice-Told Tales, the Prescott copy, inscribed - photo 3

Twice-Told Tales, the Prescott copy, inscribed

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$ 32 760
Auction dateClassic
15.06.2023 10:00UTC -04:00
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CHRISTIE'S
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USA, New York
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ID 967661
Lot 73 | Twice-Told Tales, the Prescott copy, inscribed
Twice-Told Tales, the Prescott copy, inscribed

Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1837

HAWTHORNE, Nathaniel (1804-1864). Twice-Told Tales. Boston: American Stationers Co., 1837.



Very rare: a presentation copy of the first edition of the first book published under Hawthorne's own name: inscribed "Mrs S.J. Merritt with the respects of the Author" on the front endpaper. Mrs. S. J. Merritt is probably Sarah Judith Jenks Merritt, of Boston, daughter of Boston bibliophile William Jenks and wife of Boston merchant Jerome Merritt. Hawthorne would likely have known Jerome Merritt in 1839-1840 when the young writer worked in the Boston Custom-House. Only two other inscribed copies of Twice-Told Tales have appeared at auction: the Wakeman copy in 1924 inscribed to Hawthorne's wife and the Hogan copy to his cousin Rebecca Manning in 1931 and 1945.



Fanshawe, Hawthorne's first book, was published anonymously in 1828. Twice-Told Tales was financed by Hawthorne's friend Horatio Bridges. It gathered nineteen pieces that were previously printed in New England Magazine and The Token between 1831-1837 (see lots 70-72, 295). The work brought its other renown but little money. It would later be cited in Queen's Quorum as an important work of early detective fiction: "[I]n 1837, a famous American writer advanced the cause of criminologists to the very threshold of modern technique. Nathaniel Hawthorne's Twice-Told Tales contained some mystery and riddle stories, the best of which is 'Mr Higginbotham's Catastrophe.'" Edgar Allan Poe would bestow high praise on that particular story as well, writing that it "is vividly original and managed most dexterously." One of 1000 copies printed in the first edition, and with the error 78 for 76 in the table of contents, present in all copies. Loosely inserted in the present copy is a card bearing Hawthorne's signature (rather oxidized). A rare inscribed presentation copy of a landmark of American fiction. BAL 7581; Clark A2.1; Grolier American 44; Queen's Quorum p.10.



Octavo (188 x 120mm). 4 pp. of ads at front and 16 pp. publisher's catalogue at rear (a little foxing internally). Old-rose colored patterned cloth (spine slightly faded, a little rubbed at tips); modern chemise and morocco pull-off box. Provenance: Anderson Galleries, 15 March 1929, lot 113 – Marjorie Wiggin Prescott (her sale, Christie's New York, 6 February 1981, lot 154) – Christie's New York, 7 December 1990, lot 98 – Sotheby's, 22 June 1999, lot 391.

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