Manuscripts
Partial autograph draft (HM 10850) of Nathaniel Hawthorne's Life of Franklin Pierce (1852) including a two-page preface and pages numbered 24-39, 53-77, and 84-88 (49 pages); also present is a handwritten copy of an article about Pierce by the Chief Justice of New Hampshire, which is not in Hawthorne's hand and is inserted following page numbered 37 (9 pages). Date on preface is 1852 August 27, with location Concord, Massachusetts. Draft pages correspond to text on pages 36-65, 84-122, and 132-140 of the 1852 published edition. Also present in volume are six autograph letters signed from Nathaniel Hawthorne to publisher William D. Ticknor, 1852 August-September (HM 10851, HM 10853, HM 10856, HM 10857, HM 10858, HM 10860) and six autograph letters signed from Franklin Pierce to William D. Ticknor or to Ticknor & Co., 1852 August-September (HM 10852, HM 10854, HM 10855, HM 10859, HM 10861, HM 10862); letters primarily discuss editorial work on the draft and publication of the book. All items are inlaid in leather binding, presumably by collector William K. Bixby, with binding title: Original Manuscripts and Letters by Nathaniel Hawthorne / Life of Pierce. Volume includes Bixby's bookplate.
mssHM 10850-10862
