Twice-Told Tales: Modern Library Classics

Twice-Told Tales

By

Nathaniel Hawthorne

A Short Story Collection

Twice-Told Tales is a short story collection in two volumes by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The first was published in the spring of 1837, and the second in 1842. The stories had all been previously published in magazines and annuals, hence the name.

Hawthorne was encouraged by friend Horatio Bridge to collect these previously anonymous stories; Bridge offered $250 to cover the risk of the publication. Many had been published in The Token, edited by Samuel Griswold Goodrich. When the works became popular, Bridge revealed Hawthorne as the author in a review he published in the Boston Post.

The title, Twice-Told Tales, was based on a line from William Shakespeare's The Life and Death of King John (Act 3, scene 4): "Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale, / Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man." The book was published by the American Stationers' Company on March 6, 1837; its cover price was one dollar. Hawthorne had help in promoting the book from Elizabeth Peabody. She sent copies of the collection to William Wordsworth as well as to Horace Mann, hoping that Mann could get Hawthorne a job writing stories for schoolchildren.

CONTENTS

• THE GRAY CHAMPION
• SUNDAY AT HOME
• THE WEDDING-KNELL
• THE MINISTER'S BLACK VEIL
• THE MAYPOLE OF MERRY MOUNT
• THE GENTLE BOY
• MR. HIGGINBOTHAM'S CATASTROPHE
• LITTLE ANNIE'S RAMBLE
• WAKEFIELD
• A RILL FROM THE TOWN PUMP
• THE GREAT CARBUNCLE
• THE PROPHETIC PICTURES
• DAVID SWAN
• SIGHTS FROM A STEEPLE
• THE HOLLOW OF THE THREE HILLS
• THE TOLL-GATHERER'S DAY
• THE VISION OF THE FOUNTAIN
• FANCY'S SHOW-BOX
• DR. HEIDEGGER'S EXPERIMENT
• LEGENDS OF THE PROVINCE HOUSE:

I. HOWE'S MASQUERADE

II. EDWARD RANDOLPH'S PORTRAIT

III. LADY ELEANORE'S MANTLE

IV. OLD ESTHER DUDLEY

• THE HAUNTED MIND
• THE VILLAGE UNCLE
• THE AMBITIOUS GUEST
• THE SISTER-YEARS
• SNOWFLAKES
• THE SEVEN VAGABONDS
• THE WHITE OLD MAID
• PETER GOLDTHWAITE'S TREASURE
• CHIPPINGS WITH A CHISEL
• THE SHAKER BRIDAL
• NIGHT-SKETCHES
• ENDICOTT AND THE RED CROSS
• THE LILY'S QUEST
• FOOTPRINTS ON THE SEASHORE
• EDWARD FANE'S ROSEBUD
• THE THREEFOLD DESTINY