"The Custom-House," Introductory to "The Scarlet Letter," 1850

Creator

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Creation Date

Fall 2014

Description

Artifact Label:

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)
The Scarlet Letter: A Romance
Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, 1850

In a June 1850 letter to Nathaniel Hawthorne, Melville describes his struggle finishing Moby-Dick. With his usual humor, he offers to send a portion of the text to Hawthorne: “Shall I send you a fin of the Whale by way of a specimen mouthful? The tail is not yet cooked—though the hell-fire in which the whole book is broiled might not unreasonably have cooked it all ere this.”

_{Helena and John Weadock Collection of Rare and Fine Printed Books and First Editions. Gift of T. Marie Chilton}