The Scarlet Letter, a Romance. THOMSON, Hugh (illus.); HAWTHORNE, Nathaniel.

First Thomson-illustrated edition of Hawthorne's novel. Hugh Thomson had little formal training and a distinctive naturalistic style that remained "untouched by the aesthetic movement and the work of other contemporaries such as Arthur Rackham or Edmund Dulac" (ODNB). The Scarlet Letter was an immediate success on publication in 1850. The book sold 2,500 copies and lifted Hawthorne out of literary obscurity. Quarto (250 x 200 mm). Colour frontispiece, 30 colour plates, with captioned tissue guards. Contemporary blue half morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, spine lettered and decorated in gilt, blue cloth sides with single gilt rules, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt. Spine a little sunned, a few faint marks. A handsome copy.