Twice-Told Tales is a short story

Short story

A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...

 collection in two volumes by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer.Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, a judge during the Salem Witch Trials...

. The first was published in the spring of 1837, and the second in 1842. The stories had all been previously published in magazines and annuals, hence the name.

Publication

Hawthorne was encouraged to collect these previously anonymous stories by friend Horatio Bridge

Horatio Bridge

Commodore Horatio Bridge was a United States Naval officer who, as Chief of the Bureau of Provisions, served for many years as head of the Navy's supply organization...

, who offered $250 to cover the risk of the publication. Many had been published in The Token

The Token and Atlantic Souvenir

The Token was an annual, illustrated gift book, containing stories, poems and other light and entertaining reading. In 1833, it became The Token and Atlantic Souvenir.-History:...

, edited by Samuel Griswold Goodrich

Samuel Griswold Goodrich

Samuel Griswold Goodrich was an American author, better known under the pseudonym Peter Parley.-Biography:Goodrich was born at Ridgefield, Connecticut as the son of a Congregational minister...

. When the works became popular, Bridge revealed Hawthorne as the author in a review he published in the Boston Post.

The title, Twice-Told Tales, was based on a line from William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

's The Life and Death of King John: "Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale, / Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man." The book was published by the American Stationers' Company on March 6, 1837; its cover price was one dollar. Hawthorne had help in promoting the book from Elizabeth Peabody

Elizabeth Peabody

Elizabeth Palmer Peabody was an American educator who opened the first English-language kindergarten in the United States. Long before most educators, Peabody embraced the premise that children's play has intrinsic developmental and educational value.-Biography:Peabody was born in Billerica,...

. She sent copies of the collection to William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....

 as well as to Horace Mann

Horace Mann

Horace Mann was an American education reformer, and a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1827 to 1833. He served in the Massachusetts Senate from 1834 to 1837. In 1848, after serving as Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Education since its creation, he was...

, hoping that Mann could get Hawthorne a job writing stories for schoolchildren.

After publication, Hawthorne asked a friend to check with the local bookstore to see how it was selling. After noting the initial expenses for publishing had not been met, he complained: "Surely the book was puffed enough to meet with sale. What the devil's the matter?" By June, between 600 and 700 copies were sold but sales were soon halted by the Panic of 1837

Panic of 1837

The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis or market correction in the United States built on a speculative fever. The end of the Second Bank of the United States had produced a period of runaway inflation, but on May 10, 1837 in New York City, every bank began to accept payment only in specie ,...

 and the publisher went out of business within a year.

Hawthorne complained that he still struggled financially. Editor John L. O'Sullivan

John L. O'Sullivan

John Louis O'Sullivan was an American columnist and editor who used the term "Manifest Destiny" in 1845 to promote the annexation of Texas and the Oregon Country to the United States. O'Sullivan was an influential political writer and advocate for the Democratic Party at that time, but he faded...

 suggested Hawthorne buy back unsold copies of Twice-Told Tales so that they could be reissued through a different publisher. At the time of this suggestion, 1844, there were 600 unsold copies of the book. Hawthorne lamented, "I wish Heaven would make me rich enough to buy the copies for the purpose of burning them."

After the success of The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter is an 1850 romantic work of fiction in a historical setting, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It is considered to be his magnum opus. Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston during the years 1642 to 1649, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an...

in 1850, Twice-Told Tales was reissued with the help of publisher James Thomas Fields

James Thomas Fields

James Thomas Fields was an American publisher, editor, and poet.-Early life and family:He was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on December 31, 1817 and named James Field; the family later added the "s". His father was a sea captain and died before Fields was three...

. In a new preface, Hawthorne wrote that the stories "may be understood and felt by anybody, who will give himself the trouble to read it, and will take up the book in a proper mood."

Critical response

About a week after the publication of the book, Hawthorne sent a copy to his fellow classmate from Bowdoin College

Bowdoin College

Bowdoin College , founded in 1794, is an elite private liberal arts college located in the coastal Maine town of Brunswick, Maine. As of 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranks Bowdoin 6th among liberal arts colleges in the United States. At times, it was ranked as high as 4th in the country. It is...

, the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...

. Longfellow had given a speech at their commencement

Graduation

Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the ceremony that is sometimes associated, where students become Graduates. Before the graduation, candidates are referred to as Graduands. The date of graduation is often called degree day. The graduation itself is also...

 calling for notable contributions to American literature. By this time, Longfellow was working at Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 and was becoming popular as a poet. Hawthorne wrote to him, "We were not, it is true, so well acquainted at college, that I can plead an absolute right to inflict my 'twice-told' tediousness upon you; but I have often regretted that we were not better known." In his 14-page critique in the April issue of the North American Review

North American Review

The North American Review was the first literary magazine in the United States. Founded in Boston in 1815 by journalist Nathan Hale and others, it was published continuously until 1940, when publication was suspended due to J. H. Smyth, who had purchased the magazine, being unmasked as a Japanese...

, Longfellow praised the book as a work of genius. "To this little book", Longfellow wrote, "we would say, 'Live ever, sweet, sweet book.' It comes from the hand of a man of genius." He noted that Hawthorne's writing "is characterized by a large proportion of feminine elements, depth and tenderness of feeling, exceeding purity of mind." He referred to the collection's "The Gentle Boy" as "on the whole, the finest thing he ever wrote". The two authors would eventually build a strong friendship.

Generally, reviews were positive. Park Benjamin, Sr.

Park Benjamin, Sr.

Park Benjamin, Sr. was well known in his time as an American poet, journalist, editor and founder of several newspapers.-Biography:...

 said that the author was "a rose baptized in dew". For the Boston Quarterly Review, Orestes Brownson

Orestes Brownson

Orestes Augustus Brownson was a New England intellectual and activist, preacher, labor organizer, and noted Catholic convert and writer...

 noted Hawthorne's writings as "a pure and living stream of manly thought and feeling, which characterizes always the true man, the Christian, the republican and the patriot." After reading Twice-Told Tales, Herman Melville

Herman Melville

Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd....

 wrote to Evert Augustus Duyckinck

Evert Augustus Duyckinck

Evert Augustus Duyckinck was an American publisher and biographer. He was associated with the literary side of the Young America movement in New York.-Life and work:...

 that the stories weren't meaty enough. "Their deeper meanings are worthy of a Brahmin

Boston Brahmin

Boston Brahmins are wealthy Yankee families characterized by a highly discreet and inconspicuous life style. Based in and around Boston, they form an integral part of the historic core of the East Coast establishment...

. Still there is something lacking—a good deal lacking to the plump sphericity of the man. What is that?—He does'nt patronise the butcher—he needs roast-beef, done rare."

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...

 wrote a well-known two-part review of Twice-Told Tales, published in the April and May 1842 issues of the Broadway Journal

Broadway Journal

The Broadway Journal was a short-lived New York City-based periodical founded by Charles Frederick Briggs and John Bisco in 1844. A year later, the publication was bought by Edgar Allan Poe, becoming the only magazine he ever owned, though it failed after only a few months under his...

. Poe criticized Hawthorne's reliance on allegory

Allegory

Allegory is a demonstrative form of representation explaining meaning other than the words that are spoken. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation...

 and the didactic, something he called a "heresy

Heresy

Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...

" to American literature. He did, however, express praise at the use of short stories (Poe was a tale-writer himself) and said they "rivet the attention" of the reader. Poe admitted, "The style of Hawthorne is purity itself. His tone is singularly effective--wild, plaintive, thoughtful, and in full accordance with his themes." He concluded that, "we look upon him as one of the few men of indisputable genius to whom our country has as yet given birth."

The Grolier Club

Grolier Club

The Grolier Club is a private club and society of bibliophiles in New York City. Founded in January 1884, it is the oldest existing bibliophilic club in North America. The club is named after Jean Grolier de Servières, Viscount d'Aguisy, Treasurer General of France, whose library was famous; his...

 later named Twice-Told Tales the most influential book of 1837.

Contents

• "The Gray Champion"
• "Sunday at Home"
• "The Wedding-Knell"
• "The Minister's Black Veil
  The Minister's Black Veil
  "The Minister's Black Veil" is a short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It was first published in the 1836 edition of The Token and Atlantic Souvenir, edited by Samuel Goodrich...
  
  "
• "The May-Pole of Merry Mount
  The Maypole of Merry Mount
  "The Maypole of Merry Mount" is a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It first appeared in Twice-Told Tales, a collection of short stories, in 1837.- Plot synopsis :...
  
  "
• "The Gentle Boy"
• "Mr. Higginbotham's Catastrophe"
• "Little Annie's Ramble"
• "Wakefield"
• "A Rill from the Town-Pump"
• "The Great Carbuncle
  The Great Carbuncle
  "The Great Carbuncle" is a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It first appeared in Twice-Told Tales, a collection of short stories, in 1837.-Plot synopsis:...
  
  "
• "The Prophetic Pictures"
• "David Swan"
• "Sights from a Steeple"
• "The Hollow of the Three Hills"
• "The Toll-Gatherer's Day"
• "The Vision of the Fountain"
• "Fancy's Show Box"
• "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment
  Dr. Heidegger's Experiment
  "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment" is a short story by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, about a doctor who claims to have been sent water from the Fountain of Youth. It was eventually published in Hawthorne's collection Twice-Told Tales in 1837.-Plot:...
  
  "
• "Legends of the Province-House"

I. "Howe's Masquerade"

II. "Edward Randolph's Portrait"

III. "Lady Eleanore's Mantle

Lady Eleanore's Mantle

"Lady Eleanore's Mantle" is the third legend in the four-part short story "Legends of the Province-House" by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne. This short story first appeared in The United States Democratic Review "Lady Eleanore's Mantle" is the third legend in the four-part short story "Legends...

"

IV. "Old Esther Dudley"

• "The Haunted Mind"
• "The Village Uncle"
• "The Ambitious Guest
  The Ambitious Guest
  "The Ambitious Guest" is a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. First published in The New-England Magazine in June of 1835, it is better known for its publication in the second volume of Twice-Told Tales in 1841.- Plot :...
  
  "
• "The Sister Years"
• "Snow-Flakes"
• "The Seven Vagabonds"
• "The White Old Maid"
• "Peter Goldthwaite's Treasure"
• "Chippings with a Chisel"
• "The Shaker Bridal"
• "Night Sketches"
• "Endicott and the Red Cross"
• "The Lily's Quest"
• "Foot-prints on the Sea-shore"
• "Edward Fane's Rosebud"
• "The Threefold Destiny"

Adaptations

In 1963, United Artists

United Artists

United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....

 released a horror trilogy film adaptation of three of Hawthorne's stories, with the film titled Twice-Told Tales

Twice-Told Tales (film)

Twice-Told Tales is a 1963 American horror film directed by Sidney Salkow and starring Vincent Price. It is based on three of Nathaniel Hawthorne's stories found in the book Twice-Told Tales: "Dr...

. The three stories filmed were: "The House of the Seven Gables," "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment," and "Rappaccini's Daughter." While done on a relatively low-budget by Hollywood standards, the film is nonetheless regarded as a classic of sorts, with Vincent Price, Sebastian Cabot, and Beverly Garland delivering good performances.