Victorian

Nathaniel Hawthorne

1804–1864

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864) was born in Salem, Massachusetts, a descendant of a judge at the Salem witch trials. After Bowdoin College he wrote tales for a dozen years in near-seclusion (Twice-Told Tales, 1837), worked in the Boston and Salem custom houses, and lived briefly at Brook Farm. The Scarlet Letter (1850) made his name; The House of the Seven Gables (1851), The Blithedale Romance (1852) and The Marble Faun (1860) followed. He served as American consul at Liverpool from 1853 to 1857.

Sources: Bibliomancer editorial note, written from standard reference facts (dates, places, principal works).