The Scarlet Letter ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne ~ 1975, The buying Easton Press ~ Illustrated, Leather, Moire Endpapers, Integral Bookmark ~ As New

The Scarlet Letter

By buying Nathaniel Hawthorne

The 100 Greatest Books Ever Written

Collector's Edition

Bound in Genuine Leather

1975, The Easton Press
Norwalk, Connecticut

Sewn binding. Red leather over boards with gilt decoration on front and back and design and lettering on spine. Integral ribbon marker sewn in. Four spine hubs. All edges of leaves gilt. Moiré endpapers. 9.5", 280 pages, publisher's preface, table of contents, illustrations, an unattached, unmarked Easton Press bookplate (see last image)

As New condition. A solid, clean copy. Ribbon marker appears undisturbed.

From the Publisher's Preface

One could describe "The Scarlet Letter" as a Puritan treatment of adultery as observed in fictional characters of seventeenth-century Salem. That would hardly convey an idea of the book's power, or account for the pronouncement by Henry James that "The Scarlet Letter" is not only the most original of Nathaniel Hawthorne's novels but "the most distinguished piece of prose fiction to spring from American soil."

The English novelist Anthony Trollope wrote of it: "The reader's interest never flags for a moment." An a more recent commentator refers to "The Scarlet Letter" as "a tale that powerfully and poetically exploits the discordant and destructive passions deep within us."

"The Scarlet Letter" appeared in 1850 and made the name of Nathaniel Hawthorne famous in both England and America. Within three years he also published "The House of the Seven Gables," "The Snow Image and Other Twice-Told Tales," and two volumes of children's stories: "A Wonder Book" and "Tanglewood Tales."

BEP