A VISIT TO THE CELESTIAL CITY ....
[Hawthorne, Nathaniel]:
Philadelphia: American Sunday-School Union, [ca. 1844 or later, but prior to 1857]. 54pp. Small octavo. Publisher's quarter gilt calf and marbled boards. Lithographed frontis and three plates. Binding extremities a bit worn, some foxing, small paper flaw in blank area of margin of one plate, still a good, sound copy. Cloth slipcase and chemise. A reprinting of Hawthorne's THE CELESTIAL RAILROAD (1843), "revised by the Committee of Publication of the American Sunday-School Union," chiefly in the omission of a brief anecdote about Beelzebub's purchase of a miser's soul for sixpence. The Wakeman collection included a copy of this title inscribed to Hawthorne by Rev. William B. Tappan, poet and principal of the American Sunday-School Union. BAL notes this title was issued both in cloth and in the present binding, identifies four printings, and ascribes no priority to any of them: this is printing C. Clark, on the other hand, calls for the first printing to bear the imprint of King & Baird on the verso of the title. It is not present here. This copy exhibits the earlier forms of the frontis and the plate facing page 43. BAL 7655a. CLARK A13.3.a.
(Item ID: WRCLIT65303) $375.00