The House of the Seven Gables, a Romance
Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, 1851. First Edition. Hardcover. Duodecimo. [i-iii] iv-vi [vii-viii] [9] 10-344 pages. This copy has been rebound in modern cloth over boards with parts of original spine laid down. Interior is lightly age-toned.
Hawthorne's masterful novel of a New England family's ancestral guilt and atonement tinged with supernatural retribution. The setting is the 1668 Turner-Ingersoll Mansion in Salem, Massachusetts, once owned by Hawthorne's relatives.
"The House of the Seven Gables" influenced the likes of H. P. Lovecraft, who called it "New England's greatest contribution to weird literature."
Published April 9, 1851, and the books released that day were from two printings in March, 1851. BAL didn't find variations in the text sufficient to distinguish and prioritize one printing from another. Clark did identify some typographical differences and prioritized them into five printings. This copy has no battered type on page 149 and has the typographical features on pages 50, 278, 58, and 57 that conform with the March second printing according to Clark. There is a four page publisher catalogue dated March, 1851 bound in before original front free endpaper. Old note on original endpaper: "[owner name] / April 1851 / From Publisher."
Ref. BAL 7604; CLARK A17.1.b.
Item #1872
Price: $500