Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$410.48 + shipping
Condition: Fair
Description: A scarce, internally clean First UK Edition of Hawthorne's gothic romance, in need of a sympathetic rebinding. Bound in half-leather with gilt lettering and marbled paper-covered boards. The House of the Seven Gables was Hawthorne's follow-up to his highly successful novel The Scarlet Letter. Frequently haunted by the sins of his ancestors in the Salem witch trials, Hawthorne examines guilt, retribution, and atonement in this novel. It took him ten months to write, completing it in early 1851. After its publication, Hawthorne said, "It sold finely and seems to have pleased a good many people". Bound in half-leather with gilt lettering and marbled paper-covered boards. here is only some mild wear to the extremities, with just some mild bumping and rubbing.The boards and spine are detached. The binding is generally firm. Internally the pages are clean with slight browning to the page edges. Overall the condition is fair with a near fine interior. Fair
Seller: Rooke Books PBFA, Bath, United Kingdom
Price: US$1500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Hardcover. Gray boards with blindstamped decorations on boards, gold lettering and decorations on the spine. Binding faded and edgeworn and just the slightest bit shelf-cocked. 252 + 248 + publisher's advertisements. Front free endpaper missing, as well as any blank pages at the front or half-title page. Frontispiece illustration by John Gilbert is missing. Rubberstamp on title page, "Peter F, O'Flaherty, Solicitor, Enniscortby" (founder of the law-firm now called Kirwin & Kirwin, still practicing law even now, in Wexford, Ireland." This is a pirated edition (although at the time international copyright laws were muddy and publishers, ever respected ones like Routledge, took full advantage of that to profit off successful writers on the other side of the ocean). Bohn also rushed an unsanctioned edition of these titles to press - both editions hit the bookshops at the same time. The Scarlet Letter was published in the US in 1850. Seven Gables was published in 1851 (indicating that the British publishers really had to hustle to get this edition made). It's hard to overstate the importance of Hawthorne in the emergence and acceptance of truly American Literature. His works were born and bred on US soil, but were received internationally as literature, not merely provincial scribbling. These are his two most important long works. Please email with questions or to request photos.
Seller: Riverby Books, Fredericksburg, VA, U.S.A.