Hawthorne complained that he still struggled financially. 1,000 copies were published in December of that year with a cover price of $2.25 Hawthorne was paid 10 percent per copy. On October 11, 1841, Hawthorne signed a contract with publisher James Munroe to issue a new, two-volume edition of Twice-Told Tales with 21 more works than the previous edition. 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 and the publisher went out of business within a year. After noting the initial expenses for publishing had not been met, he complained: 'Surely the book was puffed enough to meet with sale. After publication, Hawthorne asked a friend to check with the local bookstore to see how it was selling. She sent copies of the collection to William Wordsworth as well as to Horace Mann, hoping that Mann could get Hawthorne a job writing stories for schoolchildren.

Hawthorne had help in promoting the book from Elizabeth Peabody. The book was published by the American Stationers' Company on Maits cover price was one dollar. My following fates to thee, O king, are known,Īnd the bright partner of thy royal throne.Īnd what so tedious as a twice-told tale? In Alexander Pope's translation Odysseus finishes telling the tale of his journeys to Queen Arête, King Alkinoös and the Phaiakian court: The title also alludes to the last four lines of Book XII of the Odyssey by Homer. The title, Twice-Told Tales, was based on a line from William Shakespeare's King John (Act 3, scene 4): 'Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale, / Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man.' The quote referenced may also be Hawthorne's way of acknowledging a belief that many of his stories were ironic retellings of familiar tropes. When the works became popular, Bridge revealed Hawthorne as the author in a review he published in the Boston Post. Many had been published in The Token, edited by Samuel Griswold Goodrich. Hawthorne was encouraged by friend Horatio Bridge to collect these previously anonymous stories Bridge offered $250 to cover the risk of the publication. The stories had all been previously published in magazines and annuals, hence the name. The first volume was published in the spring of 1837 and the second in 1842.

Twice-Told Tales is a short story collection in two volumes by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Hawthorne twice told tales