About this book
The Scarlett Letter was one of the first mass-produced novels in the United States, prior printing of books generally done by hand. The 2,500 copies first printed sold out in days, and the mass-production of books opened up conversation about books and authors to a wider-audience on a national level. The first edition of The Scarlet Letter sold out in ten days and “made Hawthorne’s fame, changed his fortune and gave to our literature its first symbolic novel a year before the appearance of Melville’s Moby-Dick” (Bradley). Although an instant best-seller, the books sales over fourteen years only brought the author $1500.
First Edition Identification
First edition published by Ticknor, Reeds and Fields, in Boston 1850. Main first edition marker is "reduplicate" instead of "repudiate" on page 21 Four page publisher's adverts at front dated March 1, 1850 and preceding the free end paper. The brown T-cloth favored by Ticknor & Fields is famous for becoming brittle with age, and cracking or fraying at the spine tips. First editions can run upwards of $20,000.
The second edition adds a preface and has a Metcalf imprint on verso of title-page. The third printing has the same preface but has a Hobart & Robbins imprint on verso of title-page.
Details
- Title The Scarlet Letter
- Author Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Binding unknown
- Edition First Thus
- Pages 256
- Publisher Book Essentials Promotions, New York
- Date 1994
- ISBN 9781569602072
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The Scarlet Letter
by Hawthorne, Nathaniel
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THE SCARLET LETTER - WORLD BEST LOVED CLASSICS
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by Hawthorne, Nathaniel
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The Scarlet Letter [Paperback] Hawthorne, Nathaniel
by Hawthorne, Nathaniel
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