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Franklin Pierce, 23 June 1852
細節
On Hawthorne's forthcoming campaign biography
Franklin Pierce, 23 June 1852
PIERCE, Franklin (1804-1869). Autograph letter signed ("Frank. Pierce") to Charles O'Connor, n.p., 23 June 1852.
One page, bifolium, 250 x 198mm (minor soiled spots at extreme margins).
"My friend Nathl. Hawthorne is writing a biographical sketch…" Presidential candidate Pierce writes of his forthcoming campaign biography. Hawthorne and Pierce first met as students at Bowdoin College and remained lifelong friends. On 5 June 1852, Pierce found himself (unexpectedly) the Democratic nominee for President after the convention deadlocked and selected the former New Hampshire senator as a dark horse compromise candidate after 49 ballots. To prepare for the contest against the Whigs in the general election, Pierce tapped his old friend who had been turned out of his own federal post as port surveyor of Beverly, Massachusetts in 1849 when the Whigs took control of the White House. Here, Pierce offers to send O'Connor a copy "perhaps before it is generally circulated," but warns that he is "inclined to think that he [Hawthorne] would prefer not to have his undertaking made public at present." Hawthorne's biography was a positive spin on the New Hampshire Democrat which carefully avoided the subject of Pierce's drinking habits. Horace Mann quipped that if the author of the Scarlet Letter "makes out Pierce to be a great man or a brave man, it will be the greatest work of fiction he ever wrote." After Pierce won the general election in November, he secured Hawthorne the post of United States Consul at Liverpool and remained there until the end of the Pierce Administration in 1857.
[With:] PIERCE, Jane (1806-1863). Autograph letter signed ("Jane") to Mary Aiken, Concord, 1 October 1852. Four pages, bifolium, 183 x 148mm, with original transmittal envelope addressed in her hand, 68 x 119mm. Pierce reports to her older sister on her husband's busy schedule and complains of "the gross and revolting falsehoods wh[ich]. appear in the papers." Pierce also writes of her pleasure that Mary liked "Hawthorne's book — it so simply truthful." As Hawthorne had issued several titles in 1852, it is not entirely clear if she was referring to Pierce's campaign biography, or one of Hawthorne's other works that were published the same year.
Franklin Pierce, 23 June 1852
PIERCE, Franklin (1804-1869). Autograph letter signed ("Frank. Pierce") to Charles O'Connor, n.p., 23 June 1852.
One page, bifolium, 250 x 198mm (minor soiled spots at extreme margins).
"My friend Nathl. Hawthorne is writing a biographical sketch…" Presidential candidate Pierce writes of his forthcoming campaign biography. Hawthorne and Pierce first met as students at Bowdoin College and remained lifelong friends. On 5 June 1852, Pierce found himself (unexpectedly) the Democratic nominee for President after the convention deadlocked and selected the former New Hampshire senator as a dark horse compromise candidate after 49 ballots. To prepare for the contest against the Whigs in the general election, Pierce tapped his old friend who had been turned out of his own federal post as port surveyor of Beverly, Massachusetts in 1849 when the Whigs took control of the White House. Here, Pierce offers to send O'Connor a copy "perhaps before it is generally circulated," but warns that he is "inclined to think that he [Hawthorne] would prefer not to have his undertaking made public at present." Hawthorne's biography was a positive spin on the New Hampshire Democrat which carefully avoided the subject of Pierce's drinking habits. Horace Mann quipped that if the author of the Scarlet Letter "makes out Pierce to be a great man or a brave man, it will be the greatest work of fiction he ever wrote." After Pierce won the general election in November, he secured Hawthorne the post of United States Consul at Liverpool and remained there until the end of the Pierce Administration in 1857.
[With:] PIERCE, Jane (1806-1863). Autograph letter signed ("Jane") to Mary Aiken, Concord, 1 October 1852. Four pages, bifolium, 183 x 148mm, with original transmittal envelope addressed in her hand, 68 x 119mm. Pierce reports to her older sister on her husband's busy schedule and complains of "the gross and revolting falsehoods wh[ich]. appear in the papers." Pierce also writes of her pleasure that Mary liked "Hawthorne's book — it so simply truthful." As Hawthorne had issued several titles in 1852, it is not entirely clear if she was referring to Pierce's campaign biography, or one of Hawthorne's other works that were published the same year.
榮譽呈獻
Heather Weintraub
Specialist, Books, Manuscripts, & Archives