The Marble Faun: Or, the Romance of Monte Beni

Boston: Ticknor and Fields, Riverside, Cambridge: Stereotyped and printed by H. O. Houghton and Company, 1860. First edition, third state. Two octavos in blind-stamped & ornamentedpolished brown cloth; brown paste-downs and endpapers; Volume One: [2], xi, [2], 16-283 pages; Volume Two: 284 pages. 16 pages of publisher's advertisements at end of volume 1. 19 cm. Boards mildly worn, edges faintly foxed, rubbed in parts; personal owner stamps and names; else tight, clean and overall a very good(+) set. Tiny b&w illus bookplate of John Ruyle to front paste-downs; personal owner names and stamps of previous owners, including small stamp of one Peyton Brooks to a few leaves. Appears that an 'errant' secondary front free endpaper may have been removed from volume one though no such paper exist (or lack of evidence of removal) in volume two, thus perhaps a 'corrected' bindery error. Hardcover. ISBN:

"The Marble Faun: or, The Romance of Monte Beni, also known by the British title Transformation, was the last of the four major romances by Nathaniel Hawthorne....[W]ritten on the eve of the American Civil War, [it] is set in a fantastical Italy. The romance mixes elements of a fable, pastoral, gothic novel, and travel guide."—Wikipedia. ¶ American Literature. Nobility -- Fiction. Artists -- Fiction. Women art students -- Fiction. Americans -- Italy -- Fiction. Meurtre -- Romans, nouvelles, etc. Artistes -- Romans, nouvelles, etc. Étudiantes en art -- Romans, nouvelles, etc. Americans. Artists. Murder. Nobility. Women art students. Fiction. Publishers' advertisements -- United States -- 19th century -- Ticknor and Fields. Rome (Italy).