Hawthorne, Nathaniel | The Maier-Bishop-Blair Copy

The Passion of American Collectors: Property of Barbara and Ira Lipman

Hawthorne, Nathaniel

Fanshawe, A Tale. Boston: Marsh & Capen, 1828

12mo (190 x 121 mm). Publisher's muslin backed boards with printed paper spine label, uncut; a few stains to boards and cloth faded. Text block pulled free from spine, some marginal staining to a few leaves, largely confined to upper margin, but a much better copy than often found of a rare book. With TLS from David Randall laid in, describing the superiority of this copy to others sold at auction from 1925-1938. In chemise and morocco case.

First edition of Hawthorne's rare first book

Written while he was still a student at Bowdoin and based on his experiences there, Fanshawe was published soon after his graduation. Hawthorne sought to distance himself from the work throughout much of his life.

"Although Hawthorne later suppressed knowledge of the existence of Fanshawe, the scarcity of this work results primarily from destruction in a warehouse fire of the publisher's inventory." (Clark)

It is a scarce and fragile book, with only 5 copies at auction in the last 20 years.

PROVENANCE

Frank Maier (bookplate) — Corlandt Bishop (booklabel) — John Insley Blair (booklabel)

REFERENCE

BAL 7570; Clark A1.1