{
  "full": "\n**NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. THE SCARLET LETTER. 1927–1971. (ML 93)** \n\n#### 133.1a. First printing (1927) \n\n[within double rules] THE | SCARLET LETTER | [rule] | BY | NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE | [rule] | INTRODUCTION BY | WILLIAM LYON PHELPS | [rule] | [torchbearer A2] | [rule] | THE MODERN LIBRARY | PUBLISHERS : NEW YORK \n\nPp. [i–iv] v–xvi, 1–303 [304]. [1–10]16 \n\n[i] half title; [ii] pub. note D6; [iii] title; [iv] *Introduction Copyright,* 1927, *by* | THE MODERN LIBRARY, INC. | [short double rule] | *First Modern Library Edition* | 1927; v–vi PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION dated p. vi: Salem, *March* 30, 1850.; [vii] CONTENTS; [viii] blank; ix–xvi INTRODUCTION signed p. xvi: William Lyon Phelps. | New Haven, Conn., | *December,* 1926.; 1–303 text; [304] blank. \n\n> *Variant:* Pagination and collation as 133.1a. Contents as 133.1a except: [iv] manufacturing statement only. (*Balloon cloth binding D*) \n\n*Jacket A:* Uniform typographic jacket B2. \n\n> Text on front:
 “I consider Hawthorne the most consummate literary artist in American literature, and ‘The Scarlet Letter’ the greatest book ever written in the Western Hemisphere. It holds its place among the fifteen best novels of the world.” — *William Lyon Phelps* \n> The inclusion of “The Scarlett Letter” in this series adds the name of Hawthorne to a roster of American authors that already contains Poe, Whitman, James, Melville, Dreiser, Anderson, Hearn, Crane, Bierce, O’Neill, Hecht and Beebe. As many more American works will be added as can be found to be consistent with the standards of the Modern Library. *(Spring 1927)* \n\n> Front flap:
 Of the few authors who have escaped the iconoclastic onslaughts of modern criticism, Nathaniel Hawthorne stands unassailed and with undiminished prestige among America’s immortals. Generations of readers have been moved by the austere and relentless power of *The Scarlet Letter*. For its revelation of a guilt-stricken attitude toward sin, for its intense human interest and its purity of diction and accuracy of analysis, for its interpretation of the Puritan way of life, the story of Hester Phrynne [*sic*] has inevitably become part of our national legacy. (*Fall 1933*) \n\n*Jacket B:* Uniform typographic jacket D. (*Fall 1929*) Jacket front flap text is the same as Jacket A with misspelling \"Phrynne.\"\n\nML edition printed from plates made from a new typesetting. Published February 1927. *WR* 12 March 1927. First printing: Not ascertained. Discontinued 1971/72. \n\nWhen Cerf invited Phelps to write the introduction he indicated that *The Scarlet Letter* was being added to the series as part of “our endeavor to include . . . as many great American works as possible” and reminded the Yale professor that the ML had no introduction by him (Cerf to Phelps, 5 October 1926). Phelps missed the 15 November deadline by nearly a month and offered to waive the \\$50 fee (Phelps to Cerf, 12 December 1926), but Cerf sent it to him anyway. \n\nThe text of 133.1 is that of the second edition (Clark, p. 162). \n\n*The Scarlet Letter* did not rank among the 99 best-selling ML titles during the first six months of 1928. During the 18-month period May 1942–October 1943 it was in the third quarter of ML titles in terms of sales. It ranked high in the second quarter if ML titles by the 12-month period November 1951–October 1952. \n\n#### 133.1b. Title page reset (1941) \n\nTHE | SCARLET | LETTER | *by* NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE | *Introduction by* WILLIAM LYON PHELPS | [torchbearer D1 at right; 3-line imprint at left] THE | MODERN LIBRARY | NEW YORK | [rule] \n\nPagination and collation as 133.1a. \n\nContents as 133.1a except: [ii] blank; [iv] publication and manufacturing statements. \n\n*Jacket A:* Non-pictorial in moderate red (15) and black on tan paper; title and statement of responsibility in reverse on inset moderate red panel, other lettering in black. \n\n> Front flap as 133.1a jackets A and B, including the misspelling “Phrynne”. (*Spring 1941*) \n\n*Jacket B:* Pictorial in deep reddish orange (36), dark yellow (88), light bluish green (163), deep yellow green (118) and black on cream paper with title and author in deep reddish orange on inset cream panel bordered in dark yellow against black background; silhouette at foot of cream panel depicting eight figures, highlighted in light bluish green and deep yellow green, standing around a pillory. Statement on front panel: *Introduction by* WILLIAM LYON PHELPS. Signed: VA [Valenti Angelo]. (1946) \n\n#### 133.2. Text reset; Gerber introduction added (1950) \n\n*THE* | *SCARLET* | *LETTER* | [short rule] | A ROMANCE | [short rule] | BY | *Nathaniel Hawthorne* | Introduction by | JOHN C. GERBER | Professor of English, | State University of Iowa | [torchbearer D5] | THE MODERN LIBRARY · NEW YORK \n\nPp. [i–iv] v–xxxiv, [1–2] 3–300 [301–302]. [1–9]16 [10]8 [11]16 \n\n[i] half title; [ii] blank; [iii] title; [iv] *Copyright, 1950, by Random House, Inc.*; v *Contents*; [vi] blank; [vii]–xxxi *Introduction* | BY JOHN C. GERBER; [xxxii] blank; xxxiii–xxxiv *Bibliography*; [1] fly title; [2] blank; 3 *Author’s Preface* | TO THE SECOND EDITION; [4] blank; [5]–300 text; [301–302] blank. \n\n*Jacket:* As 133.1b jacket B but front panel statement “*Introduction by* WILLIAM LYON PHELPS” omitted. \n\n> Front flap as 133.1a jackets A and B with spelling of “Prynne” corrected. (*Spring 1951*) \n\n> Front flap reset with “ruthless” substituted for “iconoclastic” in first sentence and an additional sentence added at the end: “For a century *The Scarlet Letter* has been an American classic.” (*Fall 1954*) \n\nOriginally published 1950 in MLCE and subsequently in the regular ML. Stein offered Gerber \\$150 to write the introduction (Stein to Gerber, 25 January 1950). He also sought Gerber’s advice about the text: “We are planning to reset the text of *The Scarlet Letter* for the college edition and I want to check with you on the best text available. Our present text is that of the second edition, though I suspect that it occasionally backslides” (Stein to Gerber, 6 March 1950). Gerber recommended the text of the third or stereotyped edition published by Ticknor, Reed and Fields in 1850 (Gerber to Stein, 11 April 1950). Stein indicated that the text, including the “Preface to the Second Edition,” was being set from the stereotyped edition (Stein to Gerber, 17 April 1950). \n\nAlso in the Modern Library
 Hawthorne, *Complete Novels and Selected Tales* (Giant, 1937– ) G35 \n\n",
  "id": "133",
  "year": "1927",
  "label": "NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. THE SCARLET LETTER. 1927–1971. (ML 93)",
  "author": "NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE",
  "title": "THE SCARLET LETTER.",
  "date": "1927–1971.",
  "something": "ML 93",
  "revisions": [],
  "type": "book"
}