This is the annotated edition including a rare and extensive biographical essay on the author, as well as an essay by Edgar Allan Poe on Hawthorne’s tale-writing.
In the year 1852 ‘The Snow Image and Other Twice-Told Tales’ was published. It is dedicated in an interesting preface to Horatio Bridge, and is made up of tales and sketches gathered from periodicals. It is a little inferior in general to the other collections, though the title story is done with a wonderfully fine and delicate touch, and ‘Ethan Brand ‘has a great deal of power. This is written from the hint for a story on the unpardonable sin, which occurs in the ‘Note-Books, ‘ the setting being suggested by the lime-kilns in Berkshire, alluded to in the first volume of the ‘American Note-Books, ‘September 7, 1838. The other noticeable sketches of the book are ‘ The Canterbury Pilgrims, ‘a story of the Shakers, ‘The Great Stone Face, ‘a tale of the Profile in the Franconia Notch, and the curious sketch ‘Major Molineux.’ ‘Old News’ is made up from some old Boston newspapers, issued before and during the Revolution. ‘Old Ticonderoga’ is one of the slight reminiscences of travel. ‘A Bell’s Biography ‘and ‘Main Street’ have the peculiar touch that marks all the sketches of Puritan life.