TANGLEWOOD TALES, for Girls and Boys;

1853. being A Second Wonder-Book. With [Six] Fine Illustrations. Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, 1853. 8 pp preliminary ads dated July 1853. Original blind-stamped green cloth with gilt-decorated spine.

First American Edition, first printing, published in the month following the English edition. This is Hawthorne's collection of mythological tales (the Golden Fleece, the Minotaur, etc.) re-told "for Girls and Boys." There were two printings dated 1853: 3000 copies printed in August or earlier but not issued until September 20th, plus another 800 copies printed on September 16th -- before any copies had been issued. (Ticknor delayed publication to permit Chapman & Hall to publish first, for copyright purposes.) The second printing is identifiable by the addition of George C. Rand's imprint on the copyright page -- not present here. This copy has preliminary ads in the earliest state, dated July 1853, where this title is listed without a price and as "In press"; we have seen first-printing copies with ads dated July or August, or with no ads, and we have seen second-printing copies with ads dated October. It is in green cloth (one of several colors used, without precedence). Condition is near-fine (minor fading of the spine, a couple of leaves standing slightly proud, a few faint droplet-marks on the rear cover). There is a small name-plate on the front paste-down. Clark A22.2.b; see Blanck 7614; Peter Parley to Penrod p. 10.