HAWTHORNE, Nathaniel (1804-1864). Pansie: A Fragment. London: John Camden Hotten, n.d.[c. 1864]. With introduction by O.W. Holmes and publisher’s catalogue at the rear. BAL 7627; Clark A 25.1. 16mo (169 x 100mm). 16 page publisher’s catalogue (lacking one leaf of ads, toned, a small section of tape residue on title). Original wrappers (rear wrapper supplied, front wrapper beginning to split at the bottom); modern quarter morocco slipcase and chemise. Provenance: Frances H. Hilton (inscription).

— Septimus Felton ; or, The Elixir of Life. Boston: James Osgood and Company, 1872. Presumed second printing with the corrected “It” appearing on page 42. Binding A: with the Houghton, Mifflin & Co. imprint on the spine. BAL 7638; Clark A 29.2.b. 12mo (177 x 109mm). Half-title. Original terracotta cloth stamped in black and gold, brown endpapers; modern custom quarter morocco slipcase and chemise. Provenance: Stephen Wakeman 1859-1924 (bookplate; his sale); American Art Association 28 & 29 April 1294, lot 356; Morris L. Parrish 1867-1944 (bookplate); Katharine de Berkeley Parsons (bookplate).

— The Dolliver Romance and Other Pieces. Boston: James R. Osgood, 1876. Clark A.30.1.a. Octavo (178 x 115mm). Unbound gatherings sewn together (lightly toned); modern custom quarter morocco slipcase and chemise. Provenance: Helen M. Sandborn, mother of journalist Franklin Benjamin Sandborn (inscription).

Three first editions of Hawthorne’s final posthumously published works, including the Wakeman-Parrish-Parsons copy of Septimus Felton. Fields commissioned Dolliver Romance for serial publication in Atlantic Monthly in the summer of 1863, unaware that Hawthorne was struggling to complete various manuscripts and had discarded many others. By that autumn, Hawthorne’s health was rapidly deteriorating and he was acutely aware of his diminishing ability to write. These works demonstrate Hawthorne’s final effort to develop the subjects he first introduced in the discarded manuscripts (Mather Jackson, 332). See Edward Arthur Mather Jackson’s Nathaniel Hawthorne: a Modest Man (1940).