Page Proofs of “The Scarlet Letter” and Rare British Edition of “Moby-Dick” Available From the Bruce M. Lisman Collection at Christie’s

Headlining Christie’s upcoming auction of Important American Literature from the Bruce M. Lisman Collection are page proofs for Nathaniel Hawthorne’s most famous novel, The Scarlet Letter. These rare proofs contain over 600 corrections over 140 pages. Hawthorne destroyed the original manuscript for The Scarlet Letter. These proofs provide a rare glimpse into the author’s development of the story, with corrections and annotations written in Hawthorne’s own hand. The Bruce M. Lisman Collection represents “the best Hawthorne collection in private hands,” according to Christie’s, with other available lots ranging from a family copy of The Scarlet Letter to assorted signed correspondence from Hawthorne. 

Another key lot in the auction is an inscribed copy of Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, from 1840. It contains stories such as “MS in a Bottle” and “The Fall of the House of Usher.” The book was a commercial failure during its time, and Poe did not receive any compensation for it beyond a few gift copies to distribute to friends and family. The available lot is one of these presentation copies. It is bound in black morocco gilt and addressed to the author’s cousin, Emily Virginia Herring Chapman Beacham. Collectors can also consider a rare first British edition copy of Herman Melville’s The Whale (Moby-Dick), a draft manuscript from Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, and an uncut copy of Washington Irving’s Salmagundi in wrappers. Visit Christie’s to browse the complete catalog of the Bruce M. Lisman Collection of Important American Literature and register to bid.