These pages of The Scarlet Letter were the first to be issued by a press. Nathaniel Hawthorne used them to proofread and check the printing. You can see his corrections here. Set in the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony during the years 1642 to 1649, the novel tells the story of Hester Prynne, who, unmarried, conceives a daughter and then struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. As punishment, she must wear a scarlet letter A. Hawthorne was part of a prominent circle of Massachusetts writers and philosophers that included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Louisa May Alcott.
This special exhibition at the Folger features rare books from the collection of Stuart and Mimi Rose that present literary, cultural, and historical high points.
