# Is "Fanshawe: A Tale" by Nathaniel Hawthorne a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Fanshawe: A Tale by Nathaniel Hawthorne (Marsh and Capen, 1828) is identified by: Hawthorne's first book, published anonymously at his own expense in October 1828 by the Boston firm Marsh and Capen, in an edition of about 1,000 copies.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Hawthorne's first book, published anonymously at his own expense in October 1828 by the Boston firm Marsh and Capen, in an edition of about 1,000 copies
- Hawthorne quickly regretted the book, urged friends and family to destroy their copies, and denied authorship for the rest of his life; a large portion of the remaining unsold stock was then lost in an 1831 fire at the publisher's premises, leaving fewer than 30 known copies of the true first edition
- No author's name appears anywhere in the book; identification rests on the Marsh and Capen Boston imprint and 1828 date on the title page, together with period boards or later-period rebinding consistent with the small original print run
- Publisher imprint reads Marsh and Capen
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Nathaniel Hawthorne |
| Publisher | Marsh and Capen |
| Year | 1828 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Hawthorne's first book, published anonymously at his own expense in October 1828 by the Boston firm Marsh and Capen, in an edition of about… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Hawthorne's first book, published anonymously at his own expense in October 1828 by the Boston firm Marsh and Capen, in an edition of about 1,000 copies. Hawthorne quickly regretted the book, urged friends and family to destroy their copies, and denied authorship for the rest of his life; a large portion of the remaining unsold stock was then lost in an 1831 fire at the publisher's premises, leaving fewer than 30 known copies of the true first edition. No author's name appears anywhere in the book; identification rests on the Marsh and Capen Boston imprint and 1828 date on the title page, together with period boards or later-period rebinding consistent with the small original print run.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Fanshawe was not reprinted in Hawthorne's lifetime after its withdrawal; the first reprint did not appear until 1876, as Fanshawe, and Other Pieces (Boston: James R. Osgood and Company), twelve years after Hawthorne's death, and all editions since carry modern publishers' imprints, never the 1828 Marsh and Capen title page.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Fanshawe: A Tale* by Nathaniel Hawthorne a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/fanshawe-a-tale
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.