The oldest known copy of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter” was auctioned Thursday for $545,100, a record price for an American 19th-century literary work, Christie’s auction house said.
The pre-sale estimate was between $200,000 and $300,000 for 144 pages of a printed proof of the classic novel. The manuscript was bought by an American book dealer who requested anonymity, Christie’s New York spokeswoman Bendetta Roux said.
The manuscript, with some pages browned and fraying at the edges, has more than 700 corrections on its pages, many believed made in Hawthorne’s own hand. Others were probably made by the publisher’s proofreaders.
A Hawthorne relative donated the corrected page proofs in 1886 to the organization that later became known as the Natick (Mass.) Historical Society.
The manuscript spent the next 118 years in a drawer, until trustee Roger Casavant came across it while doing an inventory of the society’s collections. He identified it as the oldest existing copy of “The Scarlet Letter.”
The rare manuscript and the handwritten corrections provide “a glimpse into how (the book) came into being, how the author was thinking,” Roux said. It also shows how meticulous Hawthorne was, “and how much attention he paid to detail, including punctuation,” she added.
No other proof pages of any of Hawthorne’s novels or stories are known to have survived, according to Chris Coover, senior specialist in rare books and manuscripts at Christie’s.
Hawthorne’s original manuscript, used as a printer’s copy, is known to have been burned by the author after it was returned by the publisher.
Until the discovery of this copy, the sole text source for the novel was the first printing of the book from 1850.
The Natick society’s board voted unanimously to auction the Hawthorne proof “strictly because it’s outside our field of collection” as an institution devoted to Natick’s history, said Anne Schaller, who directs the society’s museum.
“The Scarlet Letter” tells the tale of Hester Prynne, who is ostracized in Boston during the late 17th century and forced to wear a scarlet letter A on her chest for committing the sin of adultery.
Hawthorne, who was born in Salem, Mass., in 1804, also penned “The House of the Seven Gables” and “The Blithedale Romance.”
The “Scarlet Letter” sale price includes Christie’s commission. The auction house spokeswoman said she didn’t know what the previous record was.