HAWTHORNE, Julian

Nathaniel Hawthorne and His Wife. A Biography by Julian Hawthorne [Large Paper Edition]

Cambridge: Printed at the University Press, 1884. First Edition. Large paper issue, no.152 of 350 numbered sets. Two large octavo volumes. Original paper-covered boards with printed paper spine labels; fore and bottom edges untrimmed; 505+465pp; frontispiece to each volume; engraved title pages and four unnumbered leaves of engraved plates. Housed in a later custom cloth slipcase. Spines darkened; moderate external toning and soil, with stress and rubbing to joints (external); both title pages toned from contact with tissue-guards, else a sound, unmarked set, Very Good overall. With bookplate to each volume of Pittsburgh bibliophile Christopher Magee Steele, over glue residue from removal of earlier bookplates.

Laid down on flyleaf of v.1 is an ALS from publisher James R. Osgood to the book's first owner, F.W. Lawrence (possibly the noted Arts & Crafts jeweler and silversmith Frank Walter Lawrence, 1864-1929): "Dear Sir / We send you herewith the Preface to appear in the second edition of Hawthorne & His Wife printed to match the Edition De Luxe to which you are a subscriber. It can easily be tipped in between dedication & contents Vol. I." The specified leaf has indeed been tipped in following the dedication page.

An important Hawthorne biography, written by the author's son and including a number of previously unpublished fragments and letters; but also noteworthy for reproducing the text of three letters to Hawthorne from Herman Melville, whom Julian Hawthorne had visited following the death of his father. The trade edition appeared in 1885 under the Osgood imprint. CLARK C47. BAL IV:33.

Price: $300.00

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