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Young Nathaniel Hawthorne's copy of Sallust
Details
Sallust’s Catiline War and Jugurthine History
Young Nathaniel Hawthorne's copy of Sallust
[HAWTHORNE, Nathaniel (1804-1864).] – SALLUSTIUS CRISPUS, Gaius (86-c.35 BCE). Belli Catilinarii et Jugurthini historiae. Salem, Mass.: T.C. Cushing and J.S. Appleton, 1805.
Hawthorne’s school-boy copy of Sallust, heavily marked with poetry and signed both as "Hathorne" and "Hawthorne". A unique document embodying Hawthorne's self-invention. What is especially intriguing about this book is that one of the endpapers features examples of the owner’s two signatures—the original “Hathorne” and the invented “Hawthorne.” Here we have evidence of Hawthorne’s self-fashioning—his imagining the name “Hawthorne” is an assertion of his own identity and perhaps a distancing of himself from his intolerant Puritan ancestors. The period of time during which Nathaniel was experimenting with a modification of his last name was 1825 to 1827 (Wineapple, Hawthorne: A Life, 63). Perhaps the large signature “Nath. Hawthorne” was made sometime in these years—it might even have been one of the earliest trials. Certainly by 1829, the writer was signing his letters consistently “Nathaniel Hawthorne” (CE 15:196-200). He had renamed himself. And an endpaper in this volume documents his renaming.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s elder sister would later recall that, “When my brother was young he covered the margins and the fly leaves of every book in the house with lines of poetry and other quotations, and with his own names and other names. Nothing brings him back to me so vividly as looking at those old books” (28 January 1871, letter to James T. Fields). This is exactly such a book. The front blank is signed six times by Nathaniel Hawthorne, once dated Salem 1821 and once Salem 1826 and both the front and back flyleaves bear several more signatures plus the word “Salem” repeated more than a dozen times. On another rear flyleaf Hawthorne has transcribed four lines of verse by James Thomson (Scottish poet, 1700-1748): "pass some few years / Thy flowering spring, thy summer's ardent strength / Thy sober autumn fading into age / And pale concluding winter comes at last, / And shuts the scene."
There is a pencil note “Ainsworth” on the lower inside cover, referring to the Latin dictionary he probably used while reading Sallust (see lot 64). Sallust was on the list of required reading for entrance to Bowdoin and this is poignantly a Salem, Massachusetts edition.
Octavo (175 x 100mm). (Toned.) Contemporary marbled sheep, red morocco lettering piece (spine worn with some chips to ends and along joints); modern clamshell box. Provenance: Nathaniel Hawthorne (ownership signature "Nath. Hawthorne" and multiple ownership signatures “Nathaniel Hathorne”).
Young Nathaniel Hawthorne's copy of Sallust
[HAWTHORNE, Nathaniel (1804-1864).] – SALLUSTIUS CRISPUS, Gaius (86-c.35 BCE). Belli Catilinarii et Jugurthini historiae. Salem, Mass.: T.C. Cushing and J.S. Appleton, 1805.
Hawthorne’s school-boy copy of Sallust, heavily marked with poetry and signed both as "Hathorne" and "Hawthorne". A unique document embodying Hawthorne's self-invention. What is especially intriguing about this book is that one of the endpapers features examples of the owner’s two signatures—the original “Hathorne” and the invented “Hawthorne.” Here we have evidence of Hawthorne’s self-fashioning—his imagining the name “Hawthorne” is an assertion of his own identity and perhaps a distancing of himself from his intolerant Puritan ancestors. The period of time during which Nathaniel was experimenting with a modification of his last name was 1825 to 1827 (Wineapple, Hawthorne: A Life, 63). Perhaps the large signature “Nath. Hawthorne” was made sometime in these years—it might even have been one of the earliest trials. Certainly by 1829, the writer was signing his letters consistently “Nathaniel Hawthorne” (CE 15:196-200). He had renamed himself. And an endpaper in this volume documents his renaming.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s elder sister would later recall that, “When my brother was young he covered the margins and the fly leaves of every book in the house with lines of poetry and other quotations, and with his own names and other names. Nothing brings him back to me so vividly as looking at those old books” (28 January 1871, letter to James T. Fields). This is exactly such a book. The front blank is signed six times by Nathaniel Hawthorne, once dated Salem 1821 and once Salem 1826 and both the front and back flyleaves bear several more signatures plus the word “Salem” repeated more than a dozen times. On another rear flyleaf Hawthorne has transcribed four lines of verse by James Thomson (Scottish poet, 1700-1748): "pass some few years / Thy flowering spring, thy summer's ardent strength / Thy sober autumn fading into age / And pale concluding winter comes at last, / And shuts the scene."
There is a pencil note “Ainsworth” on the lower inside cover, referring to the Latin dictionary he probably used while reading Sallust (see lot 64). Sallust was on the list of required reading for entrance to Bowdoin and this is poignantly a Salem, Massachusetts edition.
Octavo (175 x 100mm). (Toned.) Contemporary marbled sheep, red morocco lettering piece (spine worn with some chips to ends and along joints); modern clamshell box. Provenance: Nathaniel Hawthorne (ownership signature "Nath. Hawthorne" and multiple ownership signatures “Nathaniel Hathorne”).
Brought to you by
Heather Weintraub
Specialist, Books, Manuscripts, & Archives