Complete Novels & Tales Hawthorne Modern Library G37

📖 The Complete Novels and Selected Tales of Nathaniel Hawthorne (Modern Library Giant G37, c.1967, The Modern Library / Random House) — a single-volume cloth hardcover collection edited with an introduction by Yale scholar Norman Holmes Pearson. This copy is a mid-century Giant edition with the original unclipped dust jacket, graded Very Good.

Quick Facts

• Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864)
• Editor: Norman Holmes Pearson
• Publisher: The Modern Library, Random House, New York
• Edition: Modern Library Giant G37 — first collected 1937; Giant edition c.1967
• Format: Cloth hardcover with original dust jacket
• Pages: 1,223
• ISBN: 0394607376
• Binding: Tight, square, sound hinges

The Works

The volume gathers Hawthorne’s five novels, complete and unabridged, and a representative selection of tales. The jacket lists The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables, The Blithedale Romance, Fanshawe, and The Marble Faun, plus thirty-seven novelettes and tales. The title page confirms the volume is “EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION, BY NORMAN HOLMES PEARSON.”

THIS EDITION

The Modern Library Giants were the large-format companion series to the regular Modern Library, launched in 1931 for works too substantial for the compact volumes. Giants average about 1,000 pages and were marketed as “THE BEST OF THE WORLD’S BEST BOOKS … NOW AVAILABLE IN COMPACT, INEXPENSIVE, DEFINITIVE EDITIONS.” G37 is Hawthorne’s collected novels and selected tales, issued in the mid-1960s as part of the Giant line. The inside jacket notes that a worldwide revival of interest in Hawthorne made inclusion in the Giant series imperative and cites Pearson’s biographical and critical introduction.

Cover Art / Illustrations / Design

The dust jacket is light blue-gray with a thin gold border framing the front. The title and author are set in bold black type, with an oval black-and-white illustration of a colonial New England harbor with ships, a pier, church steeple and period figures. The Modern Library Giant logo appears at the bottom. The spine is the same blue-gray with black lettering reading HAWTHORNE / The Complete Novels and Selected Tales of NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE / A MODERN LIBRARY GIANT / G37. The cloth boards beneath are vibrant crimson with a black spine panel and gilt lettering and torchbearer emblem.

Historical Context

Nathaniel Hawthorne is a foundational American novelist associated with dark romanticism. His fiction centers New England and Puritan history, using moral allegories to explore guilt, sin and ancestral legacy. The Scarlet Letter, published in 1850, established his literary reputation.

For Collectors

Modern Library Giants are collectible for their distinctive design and substantial format. G37 is sought for the Pearson introduction and the classic pictorial jacket. The volume shows typical reading wear consistent with age but remains a solid library copy with the original jacket intact.

FAQ

Is this the first edition of Hawthorne’s novels? No. The novels were first published individually in the 1840s–1850s. This is a mid-century Modern Library collected edition, Giant reissue of the 1937 collected volume, printed c.1967.

What works are included? The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables, The Blithedale Romance, Fanshawe, The Marble Faun, complete and unabridged, plus a selection of thirty-seven novelettes and tales.

Is the dust jacket original? Yes. The jacket is original unclipped with period Modern Library branding and the G37 spine designation.

Condition Report

Overall Grade: Book: Very Good (VG) / Jacket: Very Good- (VG-)

Cover & Spine: Vibrant crimson cloth boards with sharp corners and minor shelf-wear at extremities; black spine panel with bright gilt lettering and torchbearer emblem.

Dust Jacket: Preserved in original unclipped jacket; shallow chipping and creasing at the spine head and tail; some edge wear and faint surface rubbing to panels. Tanned at the spine inside and along the upper edge.

Text Block & Pages: Pages are uniform off-white/cream; text block edges are lightly age-toned; neat vintage ownership inscription in ink on front free endpaper reading “Jeff Tallackson / Yale University”; some marginal marks in places and some underlining, not extensive, but present, does not impact readability.

Binding: Tight, square, and soundly bound with solid hinges front and back.

See accompanying images for full condition details. Will ship promptly, carefully packaged.

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