Description

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic American novel, The House of the Seven Gables, is a cautionary tale of a house cursed by the wrongful deeds of its founder. Published in 1851, the novel was inspired by the seaside mansion owned by his cousin Susanna Ingersoll, that was constructed almost 200 years prior in 1668. Hawthorne drew information from his own family history when composing the story, as he is descended from the unrepentant “Hanging Judge” John Hathorne who presided over the 1692 Salem Witch Trials. Through The House of the Seven Gables, Hawthorne aims to prove what he knows from his own experience, that “the wrong-doings of one generation lives into the successive ones.”

This is a reprint of the 1913 edition of The House of the Seven Gables. It features an introduction by museum founder Caroline O. Emmerton, which details the house’s history beginning in 1668, and her personal experience during its restoration starting in 1908 and ending in 1910 with the establishment of the House of the Seven Gables Settlement Association. This book features enlarged text as well as 16 photographs of the interior and exterior of the Turner-Ingersoll mansion.

Each Nathaniel Hawthorne book is stamped saying “Purchased from the House of the Seven Gables,” and with a facsimile of his signature from our archives.

Explore more Hawthorne texts offered by The House of the Seven Gables: The Scarlet Letter, Twenty Days with Julian and Little Bunny by Papa, Twice Told Tales