A Month in England
Hardcover. New York: Redfield, 1854. Second Edition. Near Fine.
Second edition. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author to writer Nathaniel Hawthorne: "Nath. Hawthorne. / from the author." Publisher's original brown cloth, with boards ruled in blind, spine stamped in gilt, and 20 pp. of ads at rear. Near fine, with a touch of staining to spine, corners lightly bumped, light offsetting to endpapers, some spotting and toning to pages, modern bookplate to front pastedown. Overall, an exceptional association copy between two authors who greatly respected one another. Housed in a custom gray slipcase. In A Month in England, Henry T. Tuckerman (1813-1871) describes his impressions of the country in chapters like "Old and New," "London Authors," "The Drudge and the Duke," "A Trip to Windsor," "Lions," "A Day at Oxford," "Art," "Castles and Shakespeare," and "By-the-Way." Tuckerman was a Boston-born writer who published acclaimed essays, biographies, poems, and sketches. Friends with major authors including Herman Melville and Washington Irving, Tuckerman was an important part of the New York literary scene after 1845. Interestingly, he received an order from the King of Italy "in recognition of his labors on behalf of Italian exiles in the United States." In 1846, Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) sent a copy of Mosses from an Old Manse to Tuckerman and expressed admiration for his writings. In 1851, Tuckerman wrote and published an essay "Nathaniel Hawthorne" in the Southern Literary Messenger. Of this essay, Hawthorne wrote to Tuckerman, "It gave me, I must confess, the pleasantest sensation I have ever experienced, from any cause connected with literature; not so much for the sake of the praise as because I felt that you saw into my books and understood what I meant. I cannot thank you enough for it." In Hawthorne's May 1863 piece in the Atlantic Weekly, "Up the Thames" (later collected in Our Old Home), he wrote, "Thus I found an exquisite pleasure, the other day, in reading Mr. Tuckerman's 'Month in England,'- a fine example of the way in which a refined and cultivated American looks at the Old Country, the things that he naturally seeks there, and the modes of feeling and reflection which they excite."
Item #NHHT001
Price: $15,000.00
