Up-Country Letters - photo 1
Up-Country Letters - photo 2

Up-Country Letters

Lot 312
16.06.2023 10:00UTC -05:00
Classic
Starting price
$ 100
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 967512
Lot 312 | Up-Country Letters
Estimate value
$ 3 000 – 5 000
HAWTHORNE, Nathaniel (1804-1864). Autograph letter signed ("Nath: Hawthorne"), Brunswick, 7 January 1854 [to Henry Arthur Bright]. Tipped into: [MANSFIELD, William Lewis.] Up-Country Letters. New York: Appleton, 1852.

Wonderful Hawthorne letter reflecting on the reception of American literature in England, tipped into a first edition copy of the book which he is highly recommending: his friend Mansfield's Up-Country Letters. In late 1849, William Lewis Mansfield of Cohoes, New York, sent the manuscript of his poem “The Morning Watch” to Nathaniel Hawthorne for his critique, and Hawthorne, then finishing The Scarlet Letter, responded thoughtfully in several letters and accepted much-needed compensation. Mansfield’s work was published by George P. Putnam in 1850. Hawthorne declined further money but accepted bottles of champagne in Lenox. Similarly, in late 1850 or early 1851, Mansfield submitted his epistolary manuscript “Up-Country Letters” to Hawthorne for his judgment, and Sophia reported that her husband, who was finishing another book (The House of the Seven Gables), was “much pleased” with his correspondent’s new project, finding it “true & graphic” (Harold Blodgett, “Hawthorne as Poetry Critic: Six Unpublished Letters to Lewis Mansfield,” American Literature, Vol. 12, No. 2 [1940]: 184).

Mansfield’s sometimes-musing, sometimes-bemused letters included a graceful acknowledgment of “the deep mosses of Hawthorne”—presumably the 1846 collection Mosses from an Old Manse. Mentioning first the bobolinks that he had seen out the window, Mansfield then considered Hawthorne’s “deep mosses” “like-beautiful things” (57-58). Hawthorne later referred to Up-Country Letters when visiting Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Blodgett 175) and asked William D. Ticknor to send a copy of the book to writer and politician Richard Monckton Milnes. The January 7, 1854, manuscript letter tipped into this volume is to Hawthorne’s close friend in Liverpool, Henry A. Bright. It expands revealingly on Hawthorne’s view of Mansfield’s volume: “I send an American book—‘Up-Country Letters’—which I beg you to read & hope you will like it. It would gratify me much if you would talk about it, or write about it, and get it into some degree of notice in this country. England, within two or three years past, has read & praised a hundred American books that do not deserve it half so well; but I somewhat question whether the English mind is not rather too bluff and beef-y to appreciate the peculiar charm of these letters. Yet we have produced nothing more original, nor more genuine.”

Letter: 1 1/4 pages, 12mo, rectos only, conjoined leaves (tiny fold tear). Published, CE 17:163. Volume: 12mo (180 x 120mm). Engraved frontispiece and additional title. Later 19th century calf (spine browned and chipped, some wear to edges). Provenance: Sotheby's New York, 26 June 2000, lot 189.
Artist:Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804 - 1864)
Place of origin:USA
Auction house category:Letters, documents and manuscripts
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
20 Rockefeller Plaza
10020 New York
USA
Preview
16.06.2023
Phone +1 212 636 2000
Fax +1 212 636 4930
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase
Shipping Postal service
Courier service
pickup by yourself
Payment methods Wire Transfer
Business hoursBusiness hours
Mo 09:30 – 17:00   
Tu 09:30 – 17:00   
We 09:30 – 17:00   
Th 09:30 – 17:00   
Fr 09:30 – 17:00   
Sa closed
Su closed

More from Creator

Mosses from an old Manse, inscribed by Sophia Hawthorne
Mosses from an old Manse, inscribed by Sophia Hawthorne
$3 000
Mudie’s Natural History of Birds
Mudie’s Natural History of Birds
$100
True Stories from History and Biography, The Snow-Image, and A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys
True Stories from History and Biography, The Snow-Image, and A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys
$100
On Franklin Pierce and his new office as U.S. Consul
On Franklin Pierce and his new office as U.S. Consul
$1 000
Inchiquin, 1810
Inchiquin, 1810
$100
Thanking his friend for his financial support
Thanking his friend for his financial support
$5 000
Tanglewood Tales
Tanglewood Tales
$100
The Marble Faun, inscribed by Pierce
The Marble Faun, inscribed by Pierce
$2 000

Related terms

Frequently asked questions

First of all, you should register to be able to purchase at auction. After confirming your email address, enter your personal information in your user profile, such as your first name, last name, and mail address. Choose a lot from the upcoming auction and the maximum amount you want to place on it. After confirmation of your choice, we will send your application by e-mail to the appropriate auction house. If the auction house accepts a request, it will participate in the auction. You can view the current status of a bid at any time in your personal account in the "Bids" section.
Auctions are performed by auction houses and each of the auction houses describes their terms of auction. You can see the texts in the section "Auction information".
The results of the auction are published within a few days after the end of the auction. In the top menu of the site, find the tab "Auctions". Click on it and you will be on the auction catalog page, where you can easily find the category "Results". After opening it, select the desired auction from the list, enter and view the current status of the interested lot.
The information about the auction winners is confidential. The auction winner will receive a direct notification from the auction house responsible with instructions for further action: an invoice for payment and the manner in which the goods will be received.
Each of the auction houses has its own payment policy for the won lots. All auction houses accept bank transfers, most of them accept credit card payments. In the near future you will find detailed information for each case in the section "Auction information" on the page of the auction catalog and the lot.
Shipment of the won lot depends on its size. Small items can be delivered by post. Larger lots are sent by courier. Employees of the auction houses will offer you a wide range to choose from.
No. The archive serves as a reference for the study of auction prices, photographs and descriptions of works of art.