Works Of Nathaniel Hawthorne With Illustrations Twice Told Tales

How is this book unique? Font adjustments & biography included Unabridged (100% Original content) Illustrated About Twice Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne Twice-Told Tales is a short story collection in two volumes by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The first was published in the spring of 1837, and the second in 1842. Hawthorne was encouraged by friend Horatio Bridge to collect these previously anonymous stories; Bridge offered $250 to cover the risk of the publication. Many had been published in The Token, edited by Samuel Griswold Goodrich. When the works became popular, Bridge revealed Hawthorne as the author in a review he published in the Boston Post. The title, Twice-Told Tales, was based on a line from William Shakespeare's The Life and Death of King John (Act 3, scene 4): "Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale, / Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man."The quote referenced may also be Hawthorne's way of acknowledging a belief that many of his stories were ironic retellings of familiar tropes. The book was published by the American Stationers' Company on March 6, 1837; its cover price was one dollar. Hawthorne had help in promoting the book from Elizabeth Peabody. She sent copies of the collection to William Wordsworth as well as to Horace Mann, hoping that Mann could get Hawthorne a job writing stories for schoolchildren. After publication, Hawthorne asked a friend to check with the local bookstore to see how it was selling. After noting the initial expenses for publishing had not been met, he complained: "Surely the book was puffed enough to meet with sale. What the devil's the matter?" By June, between 600 and 700 copies were sold but sales were soon halted by the Panic of 1837 and the publisher went out of business within a year.

This volume of short stories and shorter works by Nathaniel Hawthorne was heralded upon its release and is still widely considered a classic.

1882. The Riverside Literature Series. Edited for study. With an introductory note by George Parsons Lathrop. Hawthorne, who, like Edgar Allan Poe, took a dark view of human nature, was a central figure in the American Renaissance. His best-known works include The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables. A collection of Hawthorne's stories including: The Gray Champion, The May-pole of Merry Mount, The Gentle Boy, and Endicott and the Red Cross reflect Hawthorne's moral insight and his lifelong interest in the history of Puritan New England. Among other tales are the allegorical The Ambitious Guest; The Minister's Black Veil and Wakefield, psychological explorations of sin and guilt; Howe's Masquerade, a ghostly legend set in Boston just prior to the American Revolution; and Dr. Heidegger's Experiment, an allegorical search for the Fountain of Youth. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.